adidas posts record Q2 sales on World Cup demand, with Japan/South Korea among its fastest-growing regions

adidas posted record quarterly net sales of €6.74bn in the second quarter of 2026, up 14% at currency-neutral rates, the German sportswear group said, crediting demand tied to this year's football World Cup. Currency-neutral growth in the Performance category — jerseys, boots and related football gear — reached 39%, the company's strongest-growing segment in the quarter.

Regionally, adidas reported Japan and South Korea — which it discloses as a single combined market — growing 18% in the quarter and 21% over the first half, among its fastest-growing regions alongside Latin America (+28% in Q2) and North America (+17%). Greater China grew 15% and Europe, the group's largest and most mature market, grew a comparatively modest 6%. Because adidas does not break Japan out on its own, how much of the combined figure is coming from Japan specifically, as against South Korea, is not disclosed.

The company attributed much of the quarter's momentum to its World Cup marketing push, including a "Backyard Legends" campaign it said drew some 9 billion views across digital channels — a reach adidas described as the largest of any campaign in its history. Chief executive Bjørn Gulden said "being the CEO of adidas during a World Cup is even better" than running the company in an ordinary year.

adidas raised its full-year guidance on the back of the quarter, now expecting currency-neutral revenue growth of 9-10% for 2026, up from a previous high-single-digit target, with operating profit projected at around €2.3bn.

For Japan's sportswear retailers and department-store sports floors, the headline growth rate is encouraging but hard to isolate: adidas's practice of reporting Japan jointly with South Korea means the region's strength could just as easily be led by Seoul as by Tokyo. What is clear is that a World Cup year is proving a genuine tailwind across adidas's football-adjacent business — the kind of once-in-four-years demand spike Japanese retailers stocking boots and replica shirts should be positioned to capture, whether or not adidas itself can say exactly how much of it is Japanese.