(Reuters) -Adidas on Tuesday said it saw strong underlying growth in Greater China in the third quarter, while sales in North America excluding the Yeezy collection were up on the year on increasing brand momentum.

Currency-neutral quarterly sales rose 9% to 946 million euros ($1.02 billion) in Greater China, up from 870 million euros a year earlier, the company said.

In North America, its second-biggest market behind Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), currency-neutral sales were down 7% at 1.36 billion euros in the July-to-September period, but increased from the previous year when excluding its Yeezy line, the company said.

A trend for Adidas's "terrace" shoes, retro models inspired by soccer fans' footwear in the 1970s and 80s, have driven sales at the German sportswear company, helping it gain market share over rivals such as Nike and recover from a bruising break-up with rapper Kanye West, who goes by Ye.

The German sportswear maker released preliminary third-quarter figures and hiked its annual guidance again earlier in October.

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