By David Owen
June 15 – Portugal’s failure to defeat tiny Iceland in industrial Saint-Etienne on Tuesday night has not prevented its shirt supplier Nike from taking an early lead in Euro 2016’s Battle of the Brands.
The point secured by Cristiano Ronaldo and his colleagues means that the six Nike teams present in France, which include the hosts, have achieved a total of three wins and two draws from the first round of 12 matches. Indeed, the swoosh brand’s only defeat came in the Croatia versus Turkey clash in which both sides wore Nike kit.
This means that the Nike half-dozen have amassed 61.1% of the 18 points theoretically available to them so far in Euro 2016, (even though Turkey and Croatia could not in fact both have secured maximum points). This puts them comfortably ahead of arch-rivals Adidas, whose nine teams, including the last two world champions Germany and Spain, have run up four victories and two draws, accumulating 51.9% of their 27-point theoretical maximum.
As with Nike, there was one all-Adidas clash (Germany versus Ukraine), meaning that a perfect record was not in fact attainable.
Adidas at least have the consolation of starting the tournament better than Puma, whose five teams have to date run up two victories and three defeats for a 40% total. Puma sides produced arguably both the best and most disappointing performances of the first round of matches, with Italy beating widely-fancied Belgium, now with Adidas, 2-0 and dark horses Austria succumbing to once mighty Hungary by the same scoreline.
In a competition in which goals have so far been at a premium, it is worth noting that the respective stables of none of the seven brands represented are averaging more than one goal per game.
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