The Panarub factory in Indonesia makes the Adidas Predator and +F50.6 TUNIT football boots that are worn and advertised by many World Cup players, including Zidane, del Piero and England's David Beckham. In October 2005, management at the factory sacked 33 trade union leaders when they campaigned for a pay rise in line with inflation during a oneday strike.

The Indonesian Human Rights Commission ruled that the dismissals were illegal and that the workers' human rights had been violated.

According to a spokesman for Oxfam International, Adidas wrote to the agency and said that it fully supported the commission's findings and would insist that its supplier factory reinstate the sacked union leaders.

However, last week Adidas announced that it now wants to clarify whether the commission's findings are legally binding, and suggested that the workers may need to appeal against their dismissal to the Indonesian Supreme Court.

"Adidas is now the top sportswear sponsor at the World Cup, " said Kelly Dent of Oxfam International. "But off the field, the company is failing to support the human rights of workers. Adidas is leaving the union leaders to spend months, possibly years, fighting the case through the Supreme Court, instead of upholding its own code to respect human rights. The company has backpedalled on its promise."

According to Oxfam, there are fears that more workers at the Panarub plant could lose their jobs this year, following a decision by Adidas to scale back its orders from the factory, which it claims is failing to meet delivery and quality expectations. A spokesman for Oxfam said that the buying practices of sportswear companies provided no incentive at all for factories to comply with even the most basic of labour rights standards.