Despite 14 percent sales growth in the second quarter and a windfall from the recent World Cup, Adidas saw its shares post their biggest one-day drop in more than six years.

At a press conference on Thursday, Adidas chief executive officer Bjørn Gulden and chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer both expressed surprise when asked about the drop.

“I see the share price and I don’t know what the misunderstanding is,” Gulden said.

A statement from the company described the second-quarter results as “unbelievably strong” and Gulden said sales from the World Cup, which was held in Mexico, Canada and the U.S., were “way above what Adidas has ever done.”

Between April and June this year, Adidas brought in 6.74 billion euros, its highest quarterly net sales ever.

“That also includes the comparisons when we used to have Yeezy and even Reebok in our family,” Gulden said. 

Additionally, the quarterly sales beat market expectations, which were set at 6.63 billion euros.

Despite all this, Adidas’ shares still slid 11.5 percent to 161.25 euros in trading on Thursday.

The market appears to have been spooked by Adidas’ higher-than-expected marketing expenditures, which rose by 212 million euros for World Cup promotions, and then led to lower-than-expected operating profit, analysts from Deutsche Bank, Bernstein Research and the Royal Bank of Canada suggested. 

Adidas’ operating profit rose 5.1 percent to hit 574 million euros, but that figure was still around 49 million euros below market expectations. It also resulted in a lower-than-expected profit margin of 8.5 percent. 

Gulden was quick to point out that the brand’s marketing spend would go back to normal levels over the next two quarters. 

Shareholders’ disappointment could also have stemmed from Adidas’ adjusted full-year guidance, analysts from UBS and Jefferies said. Thanks to the positive first half, Adidas now forecasts growth somewhere between 9 and 10 percent for all of 2026. Previously it had only expected growth in the high single digits. 

That would mean that for the rest of the year, Adidas would only grow at around 6 percent, Gulden calculated, addressing questions on the kind of restrained guidance he’s become well known for.

“It might be conservative but you know that’s the way we do it,” Gulden told journalists. “We feel confident that we are in much better shape than we were at the beginning of the year and also proud of what we’ve done in the World Cup.”

Adidas did not change its guidance on operating profit — it’s still expected to rise to 230 million euros this year. That likely upset investors, market observers said, as they’d been expecting profit to rise more along with sales. 

Those numbers could change later in the year if Adidas receives somewhere between 250 million and 300 million euros back, as result of refunds from reversed U.S. tariffs. But this repayment had yet to be finalized and the company wouldn’t count on it until it was confirmed, said Ohlmeyer, who will end his 28-year stretch at Adidas at the end of 2026.

Ohlmeyer will be replaced by another Adidas alum, Birgit Kretschmer, who was most recently finance chief at the C&A chain.

Adidas saw double-digit growth in all markets during the second quarter, except Europe, its home market and also its largest. There, sales grew only 6 percent.

In the recent past, Gulden has said he wasn’t worried about the European market, explaining that Europe likely had the highest level of consumer uncertainty in a volatile market environment as well as the highest level of discounting.

In its second largest market, North America, Adidas notched a 17 percent sales growth. “We know we have some catching up to do [in North America],” Gulden said, “ but these numbers, in a very stagnant market, are strong.”

Some of the largest changes in Adidas investments are coming in North America, the executive pointed out, where the brand has been busy signing new partners in American sports, including college and high school sports.

The biggest sales increases for the brand came in Latin America, where Adidas sales rocketed 28 percent, followed by Japan and South Korea, where they climbed 18 percent.   

In Greater China, Adidas notched a “extremely strong” 15 percent sales growth. “The business is in much better shape there now,” Gulden said, explaining that the policy of sourcing and developing locally was paying off. In particular, Adidas’ higher-end and luxury products were doing well there. 

The emerging markets category grew by 12 percent, despite the fact that 10 of the markets in this category are operating in a conflict. Ohlmeyer said around 50 million euros worth of inventory was moving very slowly in the Middle East at the moment. 

Adidas’ apparel business is zooming ahead, with sales soaring 35 percent over the second quarter to bring in 2.72 billion euros. 

National soccer team jerseys sold extremely well during the World Cup and this trend for replica sports shirts was now moving onto the big Premier League clubs. Adidas was also readying itself for the women’s World Cup soccer tournament which will take place next year in Brazil. 

The brand recently launched a collection of sports clothing for women that draws from vintage Adidas styles. “This is one of the growth vehicles we have for her in the performance category,” Gulden said. “And we’ve seen a very, very good reaction in a market we haven’t been in for a while.”

Adidas has been experimenting with different fabrics and prints and keeping a close eye on its ongoing collaboration with British online retailer Asos. “It’s almost like seeing a new fashion show every month,” Gulden said. “And we’re learning from the reactions to this, as we see what is working and not working, and then we scale it. It’s a very interesting business model.”

Up until now, Adidas creatives had mostly been looking at what was working for Asos’ female shoppers, but will begin to look at the menswear, too. 

Sales of Adidas accessories rose 20 percent, fueled by the World Cup as well as a resolution of some sourcing problems. 

Adidas footwear sales only managed growth of 1 percent. Footwear is Adidas’ mainstay and was worth 3.5 billion euros over the quarter. 

Although sports performance shoes were doing well, Gulden said the lifestyle footwear market “is currently under pressure due to heavy discounting at many retailers, especially in Europe, but also in many other markets.”

The question arose as to whether Adidas’ long, successful run with the “terrace shoe” trend has finally come to an end; the trend helped the company overcome the loss of the highly profitable, but also controversial, Yeezy collaboration. 

“You know, we saw an enormous growth in terrace and we all knew that wasn’t sustainable,” Gulden conceded. But it’s not over yet, he told WWD, it’s just broadening out. 

For example, Adidas is still extending the trend with new materials, prints and shapes, like the mary jane. “So there’s still a lot of bestsellers coming out of the same franchise. In addition to that, you have the ballerina construction and everything which is low profile,” Gulden said.

Gulden, a former professional soccer player, has always stressed that sports footwear should be at the heart of Adidas’ work. But he told WWD he wasn’t worried about what he called Adidas’ “apparel explosion,” where clothing sales are now growing faster than footwear. 

It all balances out, he said, arguing that the company uses brand heat in lifestyle and apparel to convert to sports performance categories and vice versa. 

“The lifestyle footwear market is heavily discounted and overstocked — there are brands who would never have discounted, who are now discounting — and growth is coming from the performance categories,” he added. “Right now, it’s much easier to sell a performance shoe at full price than a lifestyle shoe.” 

Gulden also pointed to the fact that sales of Adidas running shoes are increasing by around 30 percent every quarter and there are gains being made in the training and soccer categories, too. 

“The quality of the sales are healthy regardless of where you are sitting,” Gulden said.