While Adidas and Nike continue their fight for the rights to the German national football team, Puma is joining their competition for the rights to the team of South Korea, which are up for grabs as of Jan. 1, 2008. Adidas currently has the most influence in the region of Northeast Asia, after being awarded the contracts for the national football teams of China and Japan last year. The addition of South Korea would complete its dominance of this increasingly important area of the world.

But Puma, which has interests in the Middle East, such as deals with Iran and Saudi Arabia, would like to balance its team portfolio by bringing an Asian nation into its fold. Nike is the current sponsor of Korea’s national football team, and over the last four years alone has sent significant aid – about $53 million – to the country’s squad. Nike has first negotiations rights through its current agreement, giving it a slight edge when the renegotiation hits the table in October, three months ahead of the contract’s expiration date. Nike can also argue that it had sponsored the Korean Football League (KFL) in times of peril, and it has stuck with the association ever since.

Puma can counter this with the fact that it has long been a supporter of both women’s and college football in Korea. Adidas has adopted a strategy of persistence: the company’s marketing managers have reportedly been showing up at the KFL’s doorstep on almost a daily basis to establish good relations. Taking aside the outright competition between the brands, the Korean football market is attractive. Koreans have shown a great level of interest in their team’s matches, invigorated by its ascension to the 2006 World Cup. Their purchasing power ranks among the highest in the world.
This war reflects many battles taking place elsewhere, still rippling from the scrambles for sponsoring rights that preceded last summer’s World Cup. Last year Adidas won the contract for the Mexican National Team, wrangling it from Nike. The Swoosh has responded by marching right into Adidas’ backyard, offering a lucrative contract to the DFB (German Football Association). The DFB has entertained Nike’s offer, causing a contention with the Three Stripes, the current sponsor.

Adidas has since decided to take its dispute with the DFB over its sponsoring deal to arbitration, after consulting internal and external lawyers as well as law professors, the company said. Adidas maintains that its contract with the DFB was “effectually extended” in August 2006 until at least 2014. The DFB argues that the contract ends in 2011. The two parties have been unable to find common ground, and Adidas’ reported offer to double the contract to €22 million is still easily trumped by an offer from Nike, worth €500 million over an 8-year period, plus €100 in other benefits.