Belgium’s defeat means that the three remaining teams in the competition, England, Croatia and France are all backed by Nike.
As a result, when either Harry Kane, Luka Modric or Hugo Lloris, lifts the World Cup at 6pm on Sunday evening, the "money shot", which will appear in every form of media all over the globe will feature the Nike brand on the players shirts.
The only way any unofficial brand can get any sort of exposure from World Cup matches is by being one of the team kit suppliers. Adidas and Nike have agreements with the majority of teams that qualified for this year’s World Cup Finals but other brands such as Puma and Hummel also have agreements in place.
Apart from Belgium, Adidas would have had high hopes for several highly backed teams they have agreements with such as Spain, Argentina and of course Germany.
Nike would have been worried when Brazil were knocked by Adidas-backed Mexico in the quarter finals, but they will be thrilled to be involved with the last three teams left in the tournament .
The World Cup and the Olympics are the world’s two leading sporting events. Branding opportunities at the Olympics are very limited, so the World Cup provides by some way the very best global branding opportunities.
It provides a unique opportunity for the biggest global brands to reach an estimated audience of 3.6 billion people in over 200 countries. These figures are likely to be further boosted by better information and data on streaming and online figures.
Of course it is expensive with the seven main Fifa partners paying in excess of $100 million over four years. Brands like Coca Cola and Adidas are long standing Fifa partners – the association goes back to the 1970s – but increasingly new names are joining the top table. Gazprom, Qatar Airways and Wanda Group all appeared for their first World Cup this time round.
The World Cup attracts interest, energy and passion way above any other sporting event and fans all over the world have enjoyed a month of outstanding entertainment and it is that energy and passion which makes it so appealing to major brands.
However, when the fireworks and the confetti bombs go off on Sunday, it will be the Nike brand taking centre stage.