Adidas could be set to lose their sponsorship deal with the German national side to arch rivals Nike.

Adidas have been the proud sponsor of the German national team, since the Adidas founder Adi Dassler first deployed screw-studs to the German side in the 1954 World Cup (Adidas, the first screw in football boots). They are set to lose their ties with the German team now due to an offer by Nike which is reported to be five times the Adidas offer.

Nike’s offer is worth almost 67 million dollars each year over eight years from 2011 onwards, which is five times higher than the 10 to 11 million Euro’s the German football association currently receives from Adidas.

The Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer criticised the Nike offer. He told a German daily it was “madness” for Nike to offer so much to a football federation.

“If we were to do that everybody would say they’re crazy at Adidas,” Hainer said.

However Hainer was still hopeful, “It is the wish from both sides that the cooperation continues, there is more than just financial considerations to the company’s partnership with the German Football Association. A partnership of this nature has a lot more components, including joint marketing activities,” he said.

The German Football Association has said it would look at the Nike offer before holding talks again with Adidas.