Nike boots its rivals

It's official. Nike won the World Cup.

In perhaps the biggest example of football gambling, the swooooosh trounced key rival Adidas by backing Brazil. The company, which had pre-bought its slots on Hong Kong Cable TV, was able to proudly keep broadcasting its pre-recorded adverts as it had signed up the winning Brazilian team, while Adidas - which had signed up England's David Beckham, France's Zinedine Zidane and Italy's Alessandro Del Peiro, among others - had to resort to filling its commercial slots with less well-known players, so as not to associate the brand with losers.