If you thought the FIFA World Cup was all about football, you must be living in a media-free bubble. It's also about a ton of marketing. The trickle of spots, virals and hoardings that began to sharpen the global appetite six months ago will be a flood by the time the tournament hits its peak.

Just like the action on the pitches of Germany, the commercial battle is a tale of favorites - sports titans Adidas and Nike - squaring up for a six-week face-off, with reliable stalwarts and the odd minnow coming from nowhere to steal an occasional upset.

Two Adidas spots, "Equipo" and "Partido" (180 Amsterdam), helmed by Stink's Ivan Zacharias, form the climax to the brand's long-running multimedia +10 campaign (See Spotopsy, April 2006). In these two spots, which are accompanied by a host of integrated collateral, a couple of kids pick their dream team of star players like David Beckham, Zinédine Zidane and Raùl in a match that celebrates the power of team spirit. Of course it helps, admits co-ECD Andy Fackrell, to have a cast of iconic players from the past and present, already signed up to endorse Adidas.

"We wanted to show how football is boring all by yourself," he says. "Other campaigns are all about the individual, a star player, one asset per country. But Adidas is a global brand and it has these magnetic personalities, which we've used to show how team spirit inspires. We tried to make every little kid's dream come alive."

Team spirit also features strongly in Nike's campaign - Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful) - along with a whole set of sporting values that give their names to a series of spots directed by Ulf Johansson: "Joy", "Skill", "Honor", "Heart" and "Team".

Nike briefed agency Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam to create a worldwide multimedia campaign that reinforces its position as the "sole" custodian of beautiful football, at a time when players are often perceived as egotistical and overpaid.

"We didn't want to do yet another ad where you take all the best players on your roster, put them somewhere ironic and get them to play football," says co-creative director, Mark Hunter. "That's a formula that works, but it's just a formula."

The manifesto spot - "Cause" - showed Eric Cantona taking over a German TV channel in order to establish Joga TV, a medium through which he can transmit the ideals of his beloved sport.

In subsequent spots, other big names - Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho and Wayne Rooney - are brought in to embody the spirit of Cantona's message, delivered from the sidelines with a Gallic intensity that finds a kind of poetry in the script.

Ronaldinho inspires kids in the sports hall with a giddy display of virtuosity in "Joy". Henry brings "honneur" to a street game and Rooney puts his big heart to the test in "Goal". And in "Team", Brazil gives an orchestrated demonstration of all these qualities to a salsa soundtrack as the team kicks a ball around the dressing room.

Hunter agrees that casual viewers might be cynical about the role of values in a big-money sporting event. But he says the spots were shot "for real" in natural environments - Henry really does play street football - and scripted in a basic sense whilst the creative team aimed for a result that is "honest, true and humble."

"A lot of repeat viewers of these spots are young, particularly on the Net," says Hunter. "And the spots are full of small things that a kid can identify with: go and play football, be happy, be skilful, win; but if someone takes a dive, stop and help them up again."

While the globals go head-to-head in the battle for values, who better than the BBC to take on the role of commentator?

"World Cup" (DFGW, London), the broadcaster's taster for the big event, celebrates the confusion that arises when the elaborate metaphors that trip off commentators' tongues are translated too literally into foreign languages and dialects.

In Albert Kodagolian's (RSA) fast-moving spot, mention of a predator signals a tiger on the pitch. A player "on fire" trails flames, a stadium comes "alive" and starts to jump around. Only the final cliché - "that tackle's left him totally exposed" - is uttered to a blank screen.

With the battle of the power brands underway, all that's left is to see who will capture the FIFA trophy.

The highlight reel
More notable World Cup offerings
* Wishful thinking comes into its own for England fans in a pair of EA Sports spots, "It's in the Bag" and "Wearing the Flag" (W+K, Amsterdam; director Niklas Weise). In scenes destined to be played out in pubs throughout the country during June and July, real people act out their anticipated highlights.

* World Cup fever becomes reality in Coca-Cola's Rivalries campaign (Santo, Argentina; directed by Laika House), an animation that shows the evolution of the bacteria spawned by players kissing the trophy over the years. Cute, rather than revolting.

* Nostalgia rules in Carlsberg's "Old Lions" (Saatchi + Saatchi, London; director Chris Palmer), which unites a line-up of players dating back to England's glorious victory of 1966 in a poignant spot guaranteed to mist the hardest eye.