Nike and Adidas facing $1bn-plus problem ahead of England vs Argentina in World Cup semi-final

England are gearing up for only the fourth World Cup semi-final in their history. As well as a shot at glory for Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and company, it is also a huge commercial opportunity.

England face Argentina at Atlanta Stadium in the pair’s first meeting since 2005 and a resumption of one of the sport’s most famous, fiercest rivalries.

It’s also a match-up between Nike and Adidas, just like the other semi-final between France and Spain.

England are contracted with Nike until 2030 in a deal worth about £400m over 14 years. The value of Argentina’s deal with Adidas, while not publicly recorded, is likely to be worth similar.

Like nearly every commercial agreement in sports business, the contracts will, however, be more complexly structured than a recurring annual fee.

There will, among other clauses, be a performance-related element embedded, for example. If England or Argentina win the World Cup, Nike or Adidas can expect a huge spike in sales, and the FAs of the two respective countries expect to be rewarded commensurately.

However, England, Argentina, Nike and Adidas are all facing a common foe: the black market.

Huge counterfeit jersey haul made in UK,

England and Argentina shirts were among a huge haul of about 58,000 counterfeit football shirts recently seized in the UK, news of which broke today.

The retail value of the nine-tonne haul was estimated at almost $7.5m. It is said that the kits were intended to be sold throughout the World Cup finals.

Needless to say, the contraband makes up a tiny fraction of the global trade in counterfeit shirts, which experts consulted by HITC suggest is worth anywhere between $1bn and $10bn in lost revenue for teams, leagues and institutions across sports.

Websites that flagrantly advertise knock-off shirts are now popular among fans in the UK, where the trade in Premier League fakes is estimated to be worth about £180m annually.

Many supporters complain that retail prices set by the likes of Adidas and Nike are too high, while the associations of the likes of England and Argentina contend that fans buying counterfeit goods are depriving them of revenue which could otherwise be reinvested at the grassroots level.

At the most nakedly commercial World Cup ever, however, it is perhaps fitting that this issue has reared its head so close to the tournament’s crescendo.

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