HEILBRONN (dpa-AFX) - Intersport has sold more than 450,000 soccer shirts during the European Football Championship in Germany. "That's quite a number. We haven't had that at tournaments in the last twelve years that I can keep track of," said the German head of the retailer network, Alexander von Preen, to the German Press Agency in Heilbronn. Nobody had expected this.

The pink away jersey of the German national team was particularly popular. "That was a hit. We were completely sold out at times," said von Preen. In addition to the DFB jerseys, sports shirts from other European Championship participants were also frequently sold - including those of the Italian, Dutch and Turkish teams, for example.

Pink DFB away jersey is bestseller

Competitors Decathlon and Sport 2000 did not provide any sales figures when asked. However, a spokesperson for Sport 2000 said that sales of the DFB jerseys had never been so high. The away jersey was completely sold out. In the weeks of the European Championships, very good sales were achieved. According to a Decathlon spokesperson, the pink DFB jersey was also the most successful away jersey ever.

The manufacturer Adidas recently announced that the pink kit had become a historic bestseller. It was said to be the best-selling away kit in the history of all DFB jerseys. Overall demand for the DFB team jerseys was also high: Adidas expects to sell more than three times as many as originally calculated. However, the company did not provide any concrete figures.

Positive EM effect at Intersport

Overall, the European Championships had a positive effect on the business of Intersport retailers. "Compared to the previous year, we have always had a very significant increase in our team sports category in recent weeks," said von Preen. He hoped that the Olympic Games, which begin in Paris at the end of July, would also ignite a spark and keep the topic of sport in people's minds - and boost sales of sporting goods.

Intersport is, by its own account, Germany's largest sports retail group. In the 2022/23 financial year, it had more than 700 retailers with over 1,400 stores nationwide. Over 400 of these also operate under the Intersport name. By 2030, the group plans to open more than 100 new Intersport stores and increase its turnover to around six billion euros - and thus a market share of a good 30 percent./jwe/DP/zb