adidas signs up to outfit every Esports Nations Cup national team

Every national team at the first Esports Nations Cup will play in adidas, according to its organizer. The Esports Foundation, which organizes the event, and the sportswear brand announced the partnership on Thursday, July 30, 2026, in a release datelined Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Herzogenaurach, Germany. adidas becomes the Official Kit Partner and a Global Partner of the competition and will supply custom competition apparel, jerseys and tracksuits among it, to each delegation.

The Esports Nations Cup is the Foundation's competition between countries: where its Esports World Cup brings together clubs, the Nations Cup gathers national teams, game by game. Its first edition is planned in Riyadh from November 2, over four weeks and sixteen competitions. Sheep Esports, which reported the deal the same day under the title of official apparel partner, noted that nearly 110 nations had already qualified. No financial terms were given for the adidas agreement.

Esports Foundation release on the adidas partnership, July 30, 2026.

What adidas will supply

The release describes the deal in terms of kit. adidas is to provide tailored competition apparel to every national team, including jerseys and tracksuits, for the athletes and coaches of each delegation. The release puts the number of athletes and coaches at 2,000. According to the Foundation, adidas both designs and produces the apparel, and more than 100 countries and territories are to wear national jerseys made for them.

Each jersey, the release says, is designed to reflect the national identity of the team that wears it. The designs were not shown on July 30: the Foundation said the reveals would be announced in the coming weeks, and that fans could follow them on the event's own website. The release does not say whether the shirts will be sold to the public, whether delegations may add their own sponsors, or how long the agreement runs beyond the first edition.

Two titles appear in the announcement. Official Kit Partner describes what adidas does for the teams; Global Partner is the second title the release gives it, attached to the event as a whole. Sheep Esports, in its report, used a third wording, official apparel partner.

A competition between countries

Sheep Esports describes the Nations Cup as a national-team event, unlike the Esports World Cup, where clubs compete, and called it the first event of its kind at this scale and with this level of financial backing. Its teams represent countries and territories, and they are put together for the occasion by the local partners the Foundation has recognized.

The Foundation has given the event a fixed rhythm. In its release of March 25, 2026, it said the Nations Cup would be held every two years, alongside the annual Esports World Cup, and that after the first edition in Riyadh it would move between host cities. That release placed the first edition from November 2 to 29, 2026.

This year the two events sit in different cities. The Esports World Cup, first announced for Riyadh, was moved to Paris on May 20, with its titles and formats kept, and is under way there; its Counter-Strike tournament is scheduled for August 12 to 23. The Nations Cup remains planned in Riyadh, as the adidas release confirms.

The money attached to the first edition is set out in the same July 30 text. The Foundation describes an overall funding commitment of US$45 million. Of that, US$20 million is prize money, shared so that the same finishing position pays the same amount in each of the sixteen titles: a medal in one game is worth what the same medal is worth in another. A further US$20 million forms a Development Fund for the National Team Partners, local ecosystem development, travel and national team operations. The release does not break down the remaining US$5 million in this text. The Esports Advocate reported in March that the Foundation had announced about US$5 million in club incentives: payments to professional clubs that release their players to compete for their countries, tied to how those players perform at the event. The same outlet described the Development Fund as covering travel and logistics for participation, as well as marketing and promotion. Both outlets described the fund as an annual allocation: Sheep Esports wrote in January that it was endowed with US$20 million a year.

Who runs each national team

A national esports team is not always run by a national body. The Foundation addressed this in its March 25 release, when it said it had awarded the status of National Team Partner in more than 100 countries and territories, after receiving more than 630 applications from 150. When applications opened in January, Sheep Esports reported, the program was open to national esports or sports federations, established esports organizations, player agencies, clubs and individuals with recognized expertise in their country, and joint applications from several stakeholders were encouraged. The Foundation, the same report said, favored applications that brought several complementary stakeholders together, which it saw as giving a national project a better chance of long-term success.

A National Team Partner, in the Foundation's description, is the organization or individual recognized as the local lead for a country or territory: it forms the team, mobilizes the local community and builds what is needed for the country to take part. Where no partner was named, the Foundation said, teams would be supported through its regional structures.

Sheep Esports noted on July 30 that many of the qualified nations, France, Brazil, Zambia and India among them, did not have dedicated commercial partners, and that many teams had been put together by groups of organizations or independent stakeholders.

The United States is one of the coalition cases. The Esports Advocate reported on March 25 that USA Esports, a non-profit public charity set up as a prospective national body for esports in North America, had been selected to build and send the American teams, after a joint application with the United States Esports Federation, sent to the Foundation, which the outlet described as the Saudi organizer of the event. Its president and chief executive is Jesse Bodony, and its esports director, Daniel Clerke, was named national team manager and leads team selection. Its partners, according to the outlet, include professional esports organizations and universities, and its board includes former professional players. The outlet added that the Foundation's application asked each candidate for its legal structure, its national connections and its marketing plans.

The partners' commercial role was set when the program opened. Sheep Esports reported on January 8, 2026 that National Partners coordinate their country's participation, including institutional communications, marketing, fan activations and the development of the local scene. Each must appoint a National Manager approved by the Foundation, who serves as the operational liaison with it and oversees the choice of the coaches that build the roster in each title. Selected partners receive an official participation license, operational support and access to the Development Fund, and team travel and accommodation are covered. A National Manager can earn up to US$25,000: US$5,000 in guaranteed service fees and up to US$20,000 in performance-based incentives. The report did not mention kit or sponsorship terms for the national teams, the point the adidas release now addresses for apparel.

South Korea, by contrast, has an established national body. Sheep Esports pointed out that the Korea e-Sports Association, KeSPA, already has commercial partners of its own and has officially supported the Korean national team for several months. The adidas release does not say how the kit deal applies where a national body already has partners.

Where qualification stands

The deal arrives while the fields are still being filled. According to Sheep Esports, nearly 110 nations had qualified by July 30, with the qualifiers for EA Sports FC and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang still to be completed. The Foundation's own release speaks of more than 100 countries and territories taking part.

The coaching side is just as wide. The July 30 release counts more than 700 national team coaches across 100 countries and territories, drawn from more than 90 esports organizations. Those coaches are among the people the adidas kit is meant for, since the release names athletes and coaches together as its recipients. The release does not say how many sets adidas will produce.

What comes next

The Foundation said the jersey designs would be revealed in the coming weeks. The remaining qualifiers, in EA Sports FC and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, are still to finish, which will complete the list of nations.

The first edition is scheduled to open in Riyadh on November 2, 2026, and to run until November 29, according to the Foundation's March 25 release. Before then, the Foundation's other event, the Esports World Cup, completes its 2026 edition in Paris.

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