In the summer of 2026, the heat of the World Cup did not stop at the venues of the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

In the 798 Art District of Beijing, a group of teenagers are engaged in a 3-on-3 confrontation on a street court, with football markets, music performances, and local creative communities gathered on the sidelines; At the same time, the Shanghai 001 store has completed a football themed renovation around the World Cup, allowing fans and consumers to experience products and participate in interactions in the retail space. Events, communities, stores, and products are interconnected into a complete sports scene. And these seemingly scattered actions together constitute a microcosm of Nike China's current transformation.

Recently, Nike released its fourth quarter and full year financial reports for the 2026 fiscal year. According to the financial report, global revenue was $46.4 billion, unchanged from last year; The fourth quarter revenue was $11 billion, slightly exceeding market expectations. The annual revenue of the Greater China region was 5.847 billion US dollars, with a fourth quarter revenue of 1.297 billion US dollars and a double-digit decrease in inventory.

For a company that is still in a period of adjustment, while quarterly financial data is important, what is more worth paying attention to is the positive signals released by the business structure. Recently, CEO He Yanfeng described the current adjustment process in an interview with foreign media: "The medicine is working

If we observe Nike China's actions in the past quarter, it is not difficult to find that its focus has gradually shifted from short-term business repair to rebuilding the connection between the brand and consumers around real sports scenes. This is also one of the differences between Nike and traditional sports brands in terms of recovery path. Compared to relying on promotions and channel expansion to drive growth, Nike hopes to return to the sport itself.

Football is not just a game

On the marketing calendar of sports brands, the World Cup has always been an 'arms race'. But Nike's response this year is somewhat different.

On the eve of the World Cup, Nike released a football themed film called 'Let the Script Be Voided'. Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappe, and Haaland appear in the same scene, with legendary figures such as Cantona, Ronaldinho, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all appearing. Popular culture faces such as Kim Kardashian and Lisa are also interspersed among them. This is not an isolated advertisement, but the entrance to a twelve week 'football universe'. Within 24 hours of the launch of the film, Nike China's official social media account has received more than 750000 interactions, making it the most interactive content since the opening of Nike Football Tiktok account; As of the first week of the World Cup, related content has accumulated 1.5 billion views worldwide.

Behind the data is a new logic. As Camilo Andrade, Global Vice President of Nike's football category, said, "The previous model of relying solely on a carefully crafted advertisement to undertake all communication tasks is no longer sufficient." In the era of short videos and fragmented content, what brands need is a content ecosystem that can continuously produce topics, allow consumers to participate in discussions, and engage in secondary creation, rather than a one-time "hot selling campaign".

The product side is also making synchronized efforts. The all-new Mercurial Assassin series has broken Nike's 24-hour sales record through its own channels, becoming the fastest selling carbon plate soccer shoe in Nike's history; The national team jerseys equipped with Aero FIT technology have sold 2.5 times more as of the same period in 2022 before the start of the season. More importantly, the football business has achieved double-digit growth in Greater China - a significant number for Nike China, which is currently undergoing adjustments.

Nike's way of bringing football to China is not just about selling jerseys. TOMA Street Football Platform has landed in China for the first time this summer, with selections conducted in six cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Dalian. Unlike traditional competitions, TOMA not only focuses on football skills, but also emphasizes the integration of football with street culture, music, art, and local communities. Young people aged 16 to 19 can define football in their own way on the street court. The competition venue in Beijing's 798 Art District lacks the distance of professional leagues and the ceremony of traditional competitions. Football, markets, music, and creative culture together form a new urban sports scene.

Behind this is a transformation that Nike is making: making the World Cup no longer just a marketing opportunity once every four years, but a long-term sports platform that can continuously connect consumers, grow content and cultural identity.

Consumption changes, brands also need to change

Nike's actions did not come out of thin air. It responds to an ongoing change - the logic of sports consumption among Chinese consumers has changed.

People entering a sports brand store are no longer just looking to buy a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing. What they want is a sense of participation - a run to join, a community with a sense of belonging, and an offline scene worth taking photos to check in. The competition between sports brands is no longer on the shelves, but in the real life scenes of consumers. As industry observers have pointed out, domestic sports consumption has bid farewell to the stage of simply buying goods, and participation and circle recognition have become key factors in consumer decision-making.

Almost everything Nike has done in the past six months has followed this logic.

In the basketball field, Nike did not focus on signing new players, but continued to cultivate the campus sports platform CHBL. The 2025-26 National Finals of Naigao will conclude at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing. In addition to the game itself, Nike has created for the first time the "Nike Basketball City" - a mix of halftime challenges, rap and street dance performances, brand markets, and Nike BY YOU customized experiences, turning the game into a street party for young people. On the product level, in the "Supernova" series specially designed for Nike, the KOBE III LOW "CHBL" color scheme is inspired by the 2008 Beijing Olympics medal "gold inlaid with jade" - this is not simply putting Chinese elements on shoes, but allowing the product to grow a local cultural narrative.

In the field of running, the second After Dark Tour women's night running series landed in Shanghai, attracting about 3800 female runners to participate. In addition to the event itself, Nike also created a complete set of female runner experience around After Dark Tour: from NRC pre race training, "sisters peer" team registration, to track supply, post race celebration and community interaction, it extended a night run to a complete running journey covering training, competition and community connection. As the first sport to fully enter the Sport Expense strategic transformation, Nike's running business has maintained double-digit growth in the past five quarters, contributing approximately $1 billion in cumulative revenue and becoming the most significantly recovering core business at present. This precisely proves the correctness of the transformation direction: when a brand truly enters consumers' sports life, growth is natural.

In the outdoor field, ACG has signed world-class off-road runner Yao Miao, the first Asian off-road runner to win the "Triple Crown" in a world-class event. Signing a contract is not just an endorsement action. Yao Miao will participate in product development testing and feedback, integrating the real experience of Chinese off-road runners into product innovation. In addition, Yao Miao also teamed up with Nike's "Spread Your Feet" project to enter campuses in Ninglang, Yunnan and other places, driving more than 60000 children from nearly 200 schools to participate in running and clocking in. Professional athlete resources are no longer just about shooting advertisements, but have sunk into the real scenes of sports, deeply influencing the next generation of young people through their exemplary role.

These actions have one thing in common: they are not just 'selling goods', but building scenes that' make movement happen '.

A slower and heavier road

For a long time in the past, the routine for sports brands to cope with adjustments was fixed: signing big brand spokespersons, advertising, and clearing inventory at discounts. Sell the goods as quickly as possible and generate the report in the shortest possible time.

But Nike took a different path this time - a slower and heavier one.

This quarter, Nike officially launched the North China Logistics Center located in Beijing, integrating national distribution, regional services, and urban services to improve supply chain efficiency and market response speed. The inventory amount and quantity in the Greater China region have both achieved double-digit declines, with significant decarbonization effects. This kind of "localized infrastructure" will not appear in any advertisement, but it determines whether consumers can receive goods faster and whether stores can adjust inventory more flexibly.

The retail sector is also becoming heavier. This quarter, key stores such as Sanlitun in Beijing and 001 in Shanghai completed theme revitalization around important event nodes such as Nike and the World Cup; ACG continues to improve its store layout, enriching offline consumption scenes through athlete sharing, product experience, and community activities in its three main bases in Beijing, Nanjing, and Changsha.

The role of stores is changing, from simple shelves to platforms that connect products, sports, communities, and consumer experiences. The effect is also showing: Shanghai 001 store achieved double-digit growth this quarter, and other stores that have completed the restructuring have also achieved sales growth.

From supply chain to stores, from events to communities, these seemingly scattered actions are actually serving the same goal - to bring Nike back into the real sports life of consumers.

Organizing events requires long-term investment, operating communities requires patience, transforming store experiences requires real money, and building logistics centers locally requires strategic determination. These are all investments at the infrastructure level, which may not see a surge in the short term, but in the long run, they are building reasons for consumers to be willing to stay.

This is a bet about patience.

This is a relay race

He Yanfeng once said in an interview with the Financial Times, "This is a relay race. My task is to take over the baton and ensure that when I hand it over, the situation is better than when I took over

This may be the most accurate description of Nike's current state.

This is not a 'reversal' story - revenue is still adjusting, the Greater China region is still under pressure, and inventory and channel repairs will take time. But this is a story "on the way": the direction is gradually becoming clear, the execution is constantly deepening, and positive signals for the professional sports category have emerged.

A securities research report also made a similar judgment. CICC believes that Nike's strategic reform has shown initial results in sports products. Guoxin Securities pointed out that Nike's recovery process is in the medium term, and short-term performance still faces challenges, but the turning point of profitability is approaching. Citigroup believes that sales momentum has rebounded in the fourth quarter, driven by the global football craze.

From market feedback, Nike's current strategic direction has gradually formed a consensus, and what is more worth observing in the future is the continuous implementation at the execution level.

He Yanfeng once said, "We are not running our business for this quarter or the next quarter, but for long-term development, laying the foundation for the company's development in the next 20 years

This sentence explains the underlying logic of Nike's transformation. This is not a sprint for short-term rebound, but more like a long-distance race to rebuild the foundation of growth.

This road is long, but the road signs are clearer than before.