AFP,  FRANKFURT AM MAIN: Although World Cup teams will be as boldly emblazoned with logos as ever, sportswear makers see little hope this year of repeating sales leaps that greeted past tournaments in iconic football nations like Germany and Brazil.

“There is no doubt that the World Cup in Russia does carry lower financial opportunities than the similar event four years ago in Brazil,” acknowledged Kaspar Rorsted, chief executive of Adidas -- the German firm that has supplied footballs to the event since 1970. Like US competitor Nike, a force in football since the United States-hosted World Cup in 1994, Adidas hopes above all to polish its brand image in 2018, and neither company has set hard sales targets.

Russia suffers from a double handicap in the megabrands' eyes: football is far from being the cultural juggernaut there it is in western Europe, and the country suffers from an international image that is at best mixed.