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Pelé in a Puma outfit (2005)
Photo:
imago sport photo service
The story of the Dassler brothers, Adolf and Rudolf, is legendary, it was filmed and books were written about it.
Two quarreling brothers who founded the two world shoe companies Adidas and Puma.
They were bitter rivals for market share - and for sports celebrities who wore their products.
Track and field athlete Jesse Owens, the boxers Muhammad Ali and Max Schmeling, football legends like Sepp Herberger or Franz Beckenbauer - they all wore Adidas shoes.
Tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Boris Becker, long jumper Heike Drechsler and sprinter Usain Bolt were all under contract with Puma.
In the run-up to the 1970 World Cup, the exceptional footballer Pelé, who died on Thursday, was not connected to either of the two German shoe manufacturers - and that was because of an informal, verbal agreement between the competing companies, the "Pele Pact".
Because both brothers feared that a competition would end in ruins and drive up prices for athletes, they agreed that no one would sign Pelé.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, the Brazilian was wearing shoes by British manufacturer Stylo at the time.
$25,000 for the World Cup, $100,000 for another four years
However, during the 1970 World Cup, Puma broke the »Pelé Pact«.
According to the "Fluter" magazine, Rudolf's son Armin signed a contract with Pelé without his father's knowledge.
According to a book by business journalist Barbara Smit, the deal was negotiated between Pelé and Puma representative Hans Henningsen.
In "Three stripes against Puma: How two global corporations emerged from a fraternal dispute
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she describes how it came about: Henningsen was therefore always close to the Brazilians at the 1970 tournament in Mexico and also had good contacts with Pelé.
He tried to provide other Brazilian players with Puma contracts - but not Pelé.
This was also noticed by the star attacker.
At some point, according to author Smit, Henningsen took the initiative and negotiated a deal with Pelé.
Pelé should get $25,000 for the World Cup and another $100,000 for the next four years.
The legend with the laces
According to Smit, Henningsen made the offer to Armin Dassler and Dassler couldn't resist.
According to the Los Angeles Times, he delivered the money together with his local Puma representative.
According to Smit and several media outlets, however, there was one more interesting detail in the contract that had been drawn up.
Accordingly, Pelé should ask the referee for a short break a few seconds before the final kicks off so that he can tie his shoes – Pumas, of course.
And the Brazilian delivered.
The breach of the "Pelé Pact" caused a lot of trouble at Adidas.
"You know, that fueled the rivalry even more," said Adolf Dassler's daughter Sigi in an interview with the BBC.
"I mean, they just show it again, you can't trust each other and you can't trust the Puma people."
Today, the rivalry between the two companies is not as bitter as it once was.
In 2009 there was even a friendly football game between the two companies, which the CEOs also took part in.
However, the companies are not friendly: Adidas recently poached Puma boss Bjørn Gulden – and swindled the supplier contract with the Italian national soccer team.
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