HERZOGENAURACH, Germany, June 24 (Reuters) - German sportswear firm Adidas expects to meet its target for 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) of soccer sales this year as the World Cup fires demand for its shirts, boots and balls, it said on Tuesday.
Adidas, which has long dominated the market for soccer boots, shirts and balls, is facing a fierce challenge from Nike , the world's biggest sportswear company that has only been a serious player in soccer for the last 20 years.
"We will definitely achieve our goal of 2 billion euros in sales in the football category in 2014, once again underlining our outstanding position as the clear number one in football globally," Adidas Chief Executive Herbert Hainer said.
Adidas said it expected to sell more than 8 million jerseys of the nine national sides it is sponsoring at the World Cup - including more than 2 million of the Germany jersey, with more than half a million of those sold outside Europe. ($1 = 0.7357 Euros) (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Arno Schuetze)