Adidas POLITICAL

Corporate Communications & Public Stance

Adidas’s only located 2024 statement intersecting with the Israel-Palestine conflict concerns the Bella Hadid advertising controversy rather than the conflict itself: the company said “connections have been made to tragic historical events - though these are completely unintentional - and we apologise for any upset or distress caused,” and confirmed it was “revising the remainder of the campaign” ^{1, 2, 3, 4}. No public evidence identified of any Adidas statement addressing the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, the Gaza war, or its humanitarian toll as a matter of corporate public stance. In March 2018, when ending its Israel Football Association (IFA) sponsorship, Adidas stated that it “acts in a politically neutral way,” equips teams “to promote sports and to be associated with sports,” and that it “support[s] and uphold[s] human rights standards and norms,” while asking FIFA to adjudicate the question of settlement-based clubs ⁵. By contrast, in March 2022 Adidas suspended its kit-supply partnership with the Russian Football Federation “with immediate effect” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ^{6, 7}, suspended store and website operations in Russia ⁸, and donated €1 million to refugee and children’s charities alongside clothing donations via Global Aid Network ⁸; no comparable public statement, operational suspension, or donation tied to the Gaza war (2023–2025) has been identified. Separately, CEO Bjørn Gulden was reported in September 2023 to have defended or minimized Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks, prompting criticism from the American Jewish Committee and other Jewish organizations, before apologizing ^{9, 10, 11, 12}. No public evidence identified of Adidas annual reports or public relations materials framing its Israel market presence as a distinct geopolitical partnership rather than routine commercial operations. The July 2024 campaign revision followed a statement by the Israeli Embassy in Germany describing Bella Hadid as “a model with Palestinian roots who has spread anti-Semitism in the past and incited violence against Israelis and Jews”; Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor separately questioned publicly how Adidas could claim the 1972 Munich reference was unintentional, and eleven Israelis, a German policeman and five Palestinian attackers died in the 1972 Munich Olympics attack ¹³. Adidas’s public record on other causes is more explicit by comparison: on June 10, 2020 the company publicly stated “Black Lives Matter” and pledged USD $120 million over four years to Black communities in the United States ¹⁴. Al Jazeera’s October 13, 2023 report on muted corporate responses to the Israel-Hamas war named Adidas among the “corporate giants” that had “pledged financial and moral support for Ukraine and Ukrainians”; marketing analysts quoted in the same report attributed corporate silence on Gaza to reputational and commercial risk, one observing that a stance opposed to the majority of a brand’s users “becomes an attack on their identity, and they revolt” ¹⁵.

Operations in Occupied or Contested Territories

Secondary reporting states that in 2019 Adidas transferred its “Adidas Israel” retail and distribution business to Israeli textile firm Delta Galil Industries ^{16, 17}; this is contradicted by Adidas’s own 2024 Annual Report, which records adidas Israel Ltd. as a subsidiary held through adidas International B.V. and taken to 100% ownership on January 31, 2024 (documented below) ^{18, 19}. The primary filing is treated as authoritative on the ownership question. Separately, Electra Consumer Products (part of the Israeli ELCO group) acquired roughly 18 Adidas-branded stores in Israel and operates as the brand’s retail franchisee there ^{20, 21, 22, 23}. In June 2021, Adidas and Delta Galil announced a global license agreement for Delta Galil to design, manufacture, and distribute Adidas-branded men’s and women’s underwear collections across multiple regions, launching in spring 2022 ^{24, 17, 25}; No public evidence identified confirming or denying whether this licensing agreement remained active beyond 2022. Delta Galil Industries and its subsidiary Delta Israel Brands Ltd. are listed in the UN OHCHR database of business enterprises maintained pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 31/36 and 53/25, under activity code “(g)” - the use of benefits and reinvestments of enterprises owned totally or partially by settlers ^{26, 27, 28, 29}. Adidas itself does not appear by name in that database or in the associated compiled list of companies operating in West Bank settlements - only its Israeli licensee/distributor Delta Galil does ²⁶. No public evidence identified of Adidas-branded retail stores operating directly inside a West Bank settlement, as distinct from its licensee’s broader corporate footprint. On civil-society campaigns: in 2018, more than 130 Palestinian football clubs and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel campaigned - including a petition delivered to Adidas’s Amsterdam office - for Adidas to end its IFA sponsorship because six IFA-affiliated clubs were based in West Bank settlements ^{30, 31, 32, 33}. Adidas ended the IFA sponsorship in July 2018 at contract expiry, stating the decision “was not politically motivated” ^{31, 34}. In May 2025, the Canadian BDS Coalition and International BDS Allies published a “Boycott Adidas” call citing Delta Galil’s Israeli licensing arrangement, Adidas’s Israeli retail presence, the historical IFA sponsorship, and sponsorship ties to Israeli sporting events and athletes, alongside separate unrelated allegations ¹⁶.

Adidas Israel Ltd in the company’s own 2024 filings. Adidas AG’s 2024 Annual Report lists “adidas Israel Ltd., Holon (Israel)” in its consolidated shareholdings schedule as 100% of share capital held through adidas International B.V., Amsterdam ¹⁸. The notes to the consolidated statement of financial position record that “the remaining non-controlling interest of 15% of adidas Israel Ltd., were acquired on January 31, 2024,” leaving no non-controlling interest in that entity at December 31, 2024 ¹⁹. This primary filing is inconsistent with secondary reporting that Adidas divested its Israeli business to Delta Galil in 2019; on the company’s own disclosure Adidas held a majority of Adidas Israel Ltd throughout and increased it to full ownership on January 31, 2024 - a date falling within the Israeli military campaign in Gaza that followed the October 7, 2023 attacks and preceding the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 19, 2024 ^{18, 19}.

Marathon sponsorships. BDS Movement documentation dated April 8, 2011 records Adidas as a sponsor of both the Jerusalem Marathon held on March 25, 2011 and the Tel Aviv Marathon, stating that the Jerusalem Marathon “not only included a special race for Israeli soldiers but also passed through the illegal Israeli settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev,” and that Israeli soldiers took part in the Tel Aviv event “without paying registration fees” ³⁵. A contemporaneous campaign statement calling on Adidas to withdraw from the Jerusalem Marathon records Adidas branding on billboards along the route, “including in illegal Jewish colonies where the marathon route follows” ³⁶. The association with Israeli marathon events continued into 2025: for the 16th Bank Leumi Tel Aviv Marathon on February 28, 2025, Adidas released a limited-edition Adizero Boston shoe designed for the event, priced at NIS 699 and sold through Adidas stores and the Adidas Israel website, reported as a first-of-its-kind collaboration mirroring Adidas’s official partnerships with the Boston and Berlin marathons ³⁷. No public evidence identified of a date on which Adidas ceased its Jerusalem Marathon sponsorship.

Who Profits (entry last updated October 22, 2024) documents Delta Galil as operating retail branches “in the settlement neighborhoods of Pisgat Zeev and Ramot in occupied East Jerusalem and in the settlement of Maale Adumim,” and as renting and operating a 1,680-square-metre warehouse in the Barkan industrial zone in the Barkan settlement, documented since May 2011; Adidas appears among the brands Delta Galil operates under licence, but the entry does not place Adidas-branded retail inside those settlement locations ³⁸. On June 22, 2018, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel issued a rejoinder to Adidas’s neutrality framing, arguing from Adidas’s own “do no harm” commitment and warning that “Adidas risks being included in this database” of enterprises maintained under the UN Human Rights Council mandate ³⁹.

Internal Governance, Content & Retail Policies

No public evidence identified of Adidas HR action, termination, suspension, or litigation involving any employee over pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli speech, political symbols, or related union activity. No public evidence identified of any platform or editorial content-moderation policy issue applicable to Adidas, which operates as a manufacturer and retailer rather than a content platform. No public evidence identified of regulatory action or public reporting specifically concerning Adidas mislabeling or miscategorizing settlement-origin goods, distinct from the broader Delta Galil settlement-nexus finding above, which concerns Delta Galil’s own facilities rather than Adidas product labeling.

Brand Heritage & State Partnerships

No public evidence identified of Adidas using military heritage, defense-sector ties, or state-security origins in commercial branding connected to Israel. No public evidence identified of Adidas hosting Israeli government officials, participating in “Brand Israel” cultural-diplomacy initiatives, or holding formal non-commercial partnerships with Israeli state academic or governmental institutions.

Adidas Foundation - Peres Center for Peace and Innovation. The Adidas Foundation records a grant of €700,000 to the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation for the period March 2025 to November 2028 ⁴⁰. The grant funds a football-based coexistence programme built on a “training the trainers” approach in which coaches receive “anti-discrimination and leadership training,” alongside youth-leader bicultural workshops and “joint football-based peace education activities” reaching hundreds of Jewish and Arab children annually across Israel and the West Bank ⁴⁰. The grant period begins after both the ICJ Advisory Opinion of July 19, 2024 and the November 2024 ICC arrest warrants; no publicly documented modification of the grant in response to either instrument was identified ⁴⁰.

Lobbying, Advocacy, Financing & Logistics

No public evidence identified of Adidas corporate lobbying registrations, PAC donations, or leadership roles in geopolitical pressure groups such as CFI, AIPAC, or USISTF related to Israel/Palestine policy. No public evidence identified of Adidas corporate donations to Friends of the IDF, JNF/KKL, Lev Echad, Israeli reservist funds, settlement organizations, Regavim, or Im Tirtzu. No public evidence identified of Adidas directing free product, logistics, cloud credits, or other infrastructure support to Israeli state, military, or state-aligned NGO efforts during the Gaza war. By comparison, during the Russia-Ukraine war Adidas donated clothing via Global Aid Network and contributed €1 million to refugee and children’s charities ⁸ - the only located instance of Adidas conflict-related asset mobilization for any conflict, and one not directed toward the Israel-Palestine context.

Anti-Defamation League partnership (announced November 2022). On November 10, 2022, at the ADL’s “Never Is Now” conference in New York City, Adidas announced a four-year partnership with the Anti-Defamation League backed by a seven-figure commitment exceeding USD $1 million, covering an anti-bigotry education programme aimed at student athletes and expanded dissemination of ADL hate-prevention training, with professional athletes also engaged ⁴¹. Adidas North America President Rupert Campbell stated: “There is no place for antisemitism, racism and hatred in sport, within Adidas or within society” ⁴¹. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt had previously described Adidas’s inaction over Kanye West’s antisemitic statements as “appalling,” and the announcement followed Adidas’s October 2022 termination of the Yeezy partnership ⁴¹.

Yeezy inventory proceeds (March 2024). In March 2024 Adidas reported approximately €300 million in profit from sales of remaining Yeezy inventory and stated that it “had given away or planned to donate over €140 million (about $152 million)” to organisations countering hate, with the Anti-Defamation League and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change named as recipients ⁴².

Slow Factory Foundation. A May 25, 2021 report identified Adidas as a listed “major donor” to projects of the Slow Factory Foundation, an organisation that during the May 2021 Gaza hostilities posted content describing Israel as a “settler colonial project” engaged in “ethnic cleansing” and used the phrase “from the river to the sea” ⁴³. No donation amount was disclosed, and no identified source confirms whether the funding relationship continued, was suspended, or was terminated after May 2021 ⁴³.

Corporate Structure & Primary Mission

Adidas AG is a German publicly listed stock corporation, with no golden-share or state-ownership structure identified in this research. No public evidence identified that Adidas’s corporate charter or founding documents tie its primary mission to advancing any state’s geopolitical goals. Its governance includes a Supervisory Board structured under Germany’s Co-Determination Act with both shareholder and employee representatives, per its own governance disclosures reviewed during this research; specific named individuals and any defense- or settlement-sector ties were not identified in this pass. Adidas AG’s 2024 Supervisory Board disclosures name, among the shareholder representatives, Thomas Rabe (Chairman; Chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann Management SE and CEO of RTL Group S.A.), Ian Gallienne (Deputy Chairman; CEO of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert), Nassef Sawiris (Executive Chairman and board member of OCI N.V.), Jackie Joyner-Kersee (CEO of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation), Christian Klein (CEO of SAP SE), and Jing Ulrich (Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Investment Banking, JPMorgan Chase & Co.) ⁴⁴. No Israeli-state, settlement-linked, or pro-Israel advocacy affiliation was identified for any named member in the records reviewed ⁴⁴.

Executive & Leadership Footprint

No public evidence identified of personal donations by Adidas founders, C-suite executives (including CEO Bjørn Gulden), or majority shareholders to Friends of the IDF, JNF, or comparable organizations. CEO Bjørn Gulden’s only located public commentary intersecting with this dossier’s subject matter is his September 2023 defense of Kanye West’s antisemitic remarks, for which he later apologized ^{9, 10, 11, 12}; No public evidence identified of any statement by Gulden or the Supervisory Board specifically addressing the Israel-Palestine conflict, the July 2024 ICJ advisory opinion, or the November 2024 ICC arrest warrants. No public evidence identified of Adidas Supervisory Board or Executive Board members holding personal board seats, leadership roles, or advisory positions in geopolitical pressure groups, state-aligned Israeli academic institutions, or settlement-linked organizations. Nassef Sawiris, the Cairo-born billionaire and Executive Chairman of OCI N.V., holds nearly 6% of Adidas AG through his investment vehicle NNS; having served as Supervisory Board Deputy Chairman since 2025, he was nominated to succeed Thomas Rabe as Supervisory Board Chairman subject to shareholder approval at the annual general meeting on May 7 ⁴⁵. No Israeli-state, settlement-linked, or pro-Israel lobbying affiliation for Sawiris was identified in the public records reviewed ⁴⁵.