Across the globe, with the sole exception of emerging markets, revenue growth from footwear outpaced apparel and equipment, with Western Europe leading the way.

"In Brazil, the World Cup was a tremendous success for the Nike brand," said Trevor Edwards, Nike Brand President.

"We introduced more revolutionary product innovations in this World Cup than in any prior.

"We're proud of the fact that more players wore Nike boots on the pitch than all other brands combined...and nearly a third of those players wore Flyknit boots."

Edwards said that the group's global football revenue had grown "at a strong double-digit rate in the first quarter, and as of the end of the quarter, we had the leading footwear market share in the nine largest football markets around the world".

Nike's performance appears to have stood up to tensions between Russian and Ukraine relatively well ©Getty Images



All told, the US company's net income for its first quarter to end-August reached $962 million (£590 million/€755 million) on revenues ahead 15 per cent to $8 billion (£4.9 billion/€6.2 billion).

Total selling and administrative expense climbed 21 per cent to $2.48 billion (£1.4 billion/€1.8 billion).

Mark Parker, President and chief executive, concluded nonetheless that "fiscal year 2015 is off to a strong start".

The regional breakdown suggested that performance has so far stood up to tensions linked to the situation in Russia and Ukraine relatively well.

While overall revenue growth from central and eastern Europe was an unspectacular seven per cent, growth from footwear was more than double this rate at 16 per cent.

Growth was slowest - just one per cent - in Japan; though this is a small market for Nike, contributing just $160 million (£98 million/€125 million) of revenues in the period, it is a country now gearing up to stage the next Summer Olympics but one, in Tokyo, in six years' time.