Adidas shares lost 17% on Thursday, their sharpest one-day fall, after the sportswear giant reported second-quarter operating profit of €574 million—well below the €616 million Bloomberg consensus and a company-compiled analyst poll of €623 million. Revenue surged 14% to a quarterly record of €6.74 billion, but the profit miss erased months of share-price gains and left the stock down around 11% for the year.

The company, which sponsored 14 teams including finalists Spain and Argentina, spent an additional €212 million on marketing in the quarter linked to the FIFA World Cup that ended in July—a 30% year-on-year increase. Campaigns featured Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham and Timothée Chalamet, among others, and generated record merchandise sales: Adidas sold four times as many shirts and twice as many balls as during the 2022 tournament. Chief executive Bjørn Gulden said the strategy prioritised product availability over inventory optimisation, calling the tournament a fairy tale and saying the company “couldn’t have looked better or done it better.”

Yet the heavy outlay meant operating profit rose only 5%. Analysts at Deutsche Bank described the quarter as solid “but against a rising tide of World Cup expectations this is going to disappoint investors,” while Citi warned the results could “reignite the debate around growth sustainability post-World Cup.” Adidas raised its full-year revenue growth guidance to 9–10% but left its profit outlook at around €2.3 billion, offering no upward revision. Compounding unease, the company announced that chief financial officer Harm Ohlmeyer would step down at year-end and be replaced by Birgit Kretschmer.

The share reaction underscores investor nervousness about whether the World Cup boost can be sustained as the frenzy fades. Attention now turns to whether Adidas can translate its sales momentum into fatter margins in the second half, especially in Europe where heavy discounting is pressuring lifestyle footwear.