Landon Donovan jerseys on sale at a New York City Niketown. Parker Eshelman/The Wall Street

U.S. soccer star Landon Donovan was cut from the World Cup roster. But at Niketown, he's still part of the team.

Mr. Donovan is one of a few players whose jerseys hang at some of Nike's NKE +0.56% Nike Inc. Cl B U.S.: NYSE $96.83 +0.54 +0.56% Dec. 26, 2014 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1.54M AFTER HOURS $96.98 +0.15 +0.15% Dec. 26, 2014 7:04 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 32,754 P/E Ratio 29.43 Market Cap $83.42 Billion Dividend Yield 1.16% Rev. per Employee $527,133 12/26/14 China’s Migrant Workers Strugg... 12/25/14 Shoppers’ Late Rush Gives Hope... 12/19/14 U.S. Stocks Close Wild Week Wi... More quote details and news » retail stores. That's an anomaly following the surprise move by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann to leave the U.S. national team's all-time leading scorer out of the World Cup matches in Brazil, which begin Thursday afternoon.

The now-out-of-date jerseys reflect Mr. Donovan's status as one of the team's longest-serving and most recognized veterans. But they also help explain why player-specific soccer gear is so hard to come by, unlike that of football and basketball stars.

American interest in soccer typically spikes around the quadrennial World Cup, but it hasn't been strong enough for sporting-goods retailers to stock their shelves with jerseys of top players. It doesn't help that few U.S. players are household names and that the national team's roster isn't finalized until a few weeks before the big tournament.

Nike, which holds the licensing rights to the U.S. team jerseys, says it doesn't sell ready-printed player-specific jerseys to wholesale customers like sporting-goods stores. The company says it makes a small quantity of preprinted jerseys to display in its own stores.

Mr. Donovan's is one. Another is that of team captain Clint Dempsey.

Edward Albertian, chief executive of retailer City Sports, said that World Cup merchandise is a must-have for the chain's primary customers, mostly urban professionals who want to indulge their soccer-crazed children. Demand is even higher this year, given that most of the matches in Brazil will be broadcast live. City Sports expects sales of about $2 million, nearly double that from the previous World Cup in 2010.

Still, World Cup gear is a "dramatic commitment to inventory," made all the riskier, Mr. Albertian says, when there are a lot of moving parts, including Mr. Donovan's last-minute cut, the weakness of some traditionally strong teams like Mexico, and the uncertainty about who will advance.


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"To have a shirt that says Brazil or Italia is better than having any name on it," he said. "That's a slippery slope."

Other big chains follow a similar strategy. Visits to Modell's and Sports Authority yielded jerseys for countries such as Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and the U.S. But all the jerseys were generic, without player names or numbers on the back.

Jason Karlowski, manager of sports marketing and public relations for Modell's Sporting Goods, said the chain sells all of its national-team jerseys without individual players' names, based on customer preference.


Charlie Brooks, a spokesman for Nike, said customers looking for specific jerseys can customize their purchases—on Nike's website, for example.

As for Donovan jerseys, "there may be a small number of jerseys with names preprinted onto them at our own stores for display purposes, but it would be a very small quantity," Mr. Brooks said.

Retail sales of licensed sports jerseys last year amounted to $3 billion, or roughly 14% of the overall sports-apparel market, according to data from industry tracker SportsOneSource. World Cup merchandise is a small category in the U.S., said Matt Powell of SportsOneSource.

"We have never seen a significant amount of World Cup products sold," he said. "They're competing with a lot of sports that are playing all the time."

At a suggested retail price of $90, the jerseys are about as expensive as those sold for other professional sports with more established U.S. fan bases.

Mr. Donovan's fate highlights the risks. City Sports didn't carry Donovan jerseys, but did sell T-shirts bearing his name for about $30. Lauren Blanda, the chain's general manager for merchandise, said that when Mr. Donovan left the team, demand for his gear went with him.

"It's safe to say it's died off," Ms. Blanda added.

Write to Sara Germano at