German national team sponsors will suffer commercial losses as a result of the side's early exit.GETTY IMAGES
Germany is out of the World Cup and the first round exit is "not just a loss of credibility and face" for the defending champion, according to Ashish Khanna of INSIDE SPORT. The brands which have invested millions of dollars in the team have also "suffered a major financial blow." With the side's "lacklustre showing," the biggest losers are not just the German team and its "passionate" fans. The sponsors who have committed millions of dollars to the German football team will "suffer pure commercial losses." The brands "bear negative influence on account of emotional backlash following such major disappointments." Adidas, which has a $32M kit sponsorship deal, is the biggest loser from the team's "dismal showing" in Russia. The deal with the German team is "one of the highest kit sponsorship agreements" for any of the 32 World Cup teams. Another top-tier sponsor, Mercedes-Benz, leveraging the team's success for its global market position, "prematurely renewed the contract" that was to expire in '12 by six years in Aug. '11. A "threat is looming large" over the German FA (DFB) as its deal ends this year, threatening a "whopping" $70M cash flow from the German luxury car maker (INSIDE SPORT, 6/28). SBS reported adidas said that it "expects to sell around eight million football shirts this year" even after Germany's exit. An adidas spokesperson said, "Of course we're disappointed, but that's sport. We're sponsors, we're there in good and in bad moments. Together (with Germany) we've become world champions four times and European champions three times in the past." Adidas sponsors 12 teams in the tournament, eight of which qualified for the knockout stage: Russia, Sweden, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia and Japan. U.S.-based Nike boasts England, Brazil, Croatia, Portugal and France among its remaining lineup (SBS, 6/28).
MOVING ON: REUTERS' Alkousaa & Chambers reported Germans "started adjusting to a new world" on Thursday, "brushing off any notion that a shock humiliation" in the World Cup, which coincides with a "rare moment of political instability, was symptomatic of national decline." German newspapers "fused the fates" of German coach Joachim Löw and Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is "fighting for her political survival due to a row over migration with her Bavarian allies." Germans are "also aghast at turmoil in their proud auto industry over an emissions cheating scandal." Bild highlighted the mounting problems last week after an "ominous" football defeat to Mexico, with the headline: "The three pillars of Germany are cars, football, stability. Summer of 2018 will be remembered as a summer of shaky pillars" (REUTERS, 6/28).
