The shirt was more than a piece of pre-match clothing. It placed Adidas at the centre of the tournament’s biggest fixture, regardless of which team lifted the trophy.
Reports say Adidas has long-standing relationships with both Argentina and Spain. That gives the brand visibility on opposite sides of a final while avoiding the usual tension of backing only one competing nation.
The image also connected Adidas with two of football’s most recognisable figures. The report says the company sponsors Lionel Messi and Lamine Yamal, linking an established superstar with one of the sport’s most prominent young talents.
Tournament sponsorship is valuable because it reaches beyond the match itself. National-team shirts become cultural markers, while boots, balls and training wear benefit from the wider attention surrounding the competition.
The report says Mexico’s shirt became Adidas’s best-selling national-team jersey during the tournament, with demand for Argentina and Spain products also remaining strong. It also claims ball sales doubled during the run.
Those figures have not been independently verified here, but they underline the commercial opportunity created by a deep tournament presence. Fourteen teams were reportedly wearing Adidas kits, giving the company repeated exposure before the final arrived.
Gulden’s split shirt made the sponsorship strategy visible in a single image. The next challenge for Adidas is converting that attention into lasting demand after the final, particularly through Argentina, Spain, Messi and Yamal.
The immediate storyline will be whether the two finalists continue to drive shirt sales and fan interest once the World Cup spotlight moves on.