Arab boycott of Adidas hits some snags

From AFP last week:

Arab youth and sports ministers on Wednesday announced their boycott of sports apparel manufacturer Adidas over the company's sponsorship of last month's Jerusalem marathon.

"All companies that have sponsored the marathon of Jerusalem, including Adidas, will be boycotted," said Saudi Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, chairman of the Arab youth and sports council of ministers, after a meeting in Jeddah.

But it appears that such a boycott is easier said than done.

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Adidas provides 17 million euros worth of sports apparel to Egypt's national teams, and it is not so easy to find an immediate replacement for that. The Egyptian sports federation signed a contract with Adidas that cannot discarded so quickly; they have to write a formal letter. Beyond that, they have their own cash crunch, and throwing away 17 million euros is not something they are thrilled with, especially if they have to spend public funds. The federation plans to launch a new process for other sports apparel companies to bid for the honor of giving Egyptian teams free clothing.

An Egyptian national football team also said that they cannot get non-Adidas clothing in time for their upcoming matches. They said that they used to use Puma clothing and were ridiculed about how unprofessional they looked, so now they must use Adidas clothing to regain their reputation.