Adidas won their court battle with Nike over Lionel Messi's brand support. Nike and Adidas have been battling for the official sponsorship of FC Barcelona wonderkid Lionel Messi, who has been described as the "New Maradona" by no less illustrious a figure than the great Diego Armando Maradona himself.




As FC Barcelona Blog has already reported, Leo Messi had signed a new sponsorship contract with Adidas to the shock of US sportswear giant Nike. FC Barcelona youngster Messi, as fcbarcelonablog already informed their readers in a previous article some weeks ago, sported his new Adidas boots in the Copa Del Rey match against Real Zaragoza. But in court, sports equipment producer Nike insisted that Messi had already agreed a new contract with Nike. The court decided that Leo Messi was obliged to wear Nike football boots until a final adjudication had been made.


Two days after Messi signed for Adidas, Nike went to court. Nike claimed that Messi had already agreed a contract with Nike until 2012. The simple truth of the matter is that the young Argentinian International signed a draft of his contract with Nike at the end of 2005. The new contract was valid until 2012 but the draft did not include the final amount that Nike was going to pay to Messi for the entire contract. In the meantime Adidas hijacked the deal by offering Leo Messi a contract until 2012.
Adidas is going to pay an estimated € 1,000,000 per year. The Barcelona star thanked Adidas for his new contract in a very personal way: By scoring a goal in the new Adidas Predator boots against Real Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey match.


However, Nike was still insisting that Messi wa on their books and claimed that they still had the Barça player under contract. But yesterday the judges in the 'Juzgado de Barcelona number 4' made their final decision, a decision that favoured Adidas.


Lionel Messi is now officially the new Adidas Icon - at least for now.