BRATISLAVA. As if Ferrari left Formula 1. Or the Wimbledon courts were covered with clay.
The German Football Association announced last week that Nike will be its exclusive supplier from 2027. This will end the collaboration with Adidas lasting over 70 years.
It was one of the strongest bonds the sports world has ever known. The timing was also unexpected. It came less than three months before the start of EURO 2024, which will be hosted by Germany, and a week after the closely watched presentation of the new national team jerseys.
Fans have been discussing whether the pink-purple color is too much. But they remained silent in the debate, replaced by amazement at the union’s news.
Politicians, from the post-communist bench to the conservative CSU, were the most vocal, and it was one of the few things they could agree on in recent years.
They condemned the upcoming change. There were words about commerce that killed tradition, about the trampling of history and the lack of local patriotism.
The Minister of Health also needed an opinion
Evidently, politicians have a gift for commenting on things they do not understand. Because the story of Adidas and Nike is much more complex and several circumstances play a role in it.
From money (which neither politicians nor commentators are wrong about) to trends in the global economy to one stupid rapper.
When the Bavarian shoe company Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik was split between the brothers Adolf (Adidas) and Rudolf (Puma) after the Second World War, both of them first of all tried to find a way to the West German national team.
However, Rudolf Dassler misjudged who has the main say in domestic football and tried to bypass national team coach Sepp Herberger. He didn’t succeed and he didn’t forget it.
Adolf nicknamed Adi got the chance
The story of how his boots with replaceable cleats helped the national team to a historic title that restored self-confidence to a nation bound by the legacy of the Nazi era belongs to the foundations of German sports mythology.
What about the fact that it was the invention of one little seamstress from Bremen. More importantly, the 1954 WC created an exceptional connection between Adidas and the national team. The company not only supplied the team with football boots, but Adi Dassler drove them to all the big events so that he was always available.
Since there were no contracts regulating the relationship between footballers and the union at the time, it was impossible for anyone to choose other footwear. And if he tried, the punishment was clear. Throw me out.
Wolfgang Solz, for example, was convinced of this. In 1964, he started a match against Czechoslovakia in Pumas, and when coach Sepp Herberger noticed him, he immediately took him off the field.
Although the Frankfurt striker received a reward of 1,500 marks from Rudolf Dassler for his rebellion, he did not play for the national team again.
Football boots, that was the holy grail of the football business at the time. They made money for companies, because t-shirts, replica jerseys, jackets, balls and other merch started to be sold in large quantities only in the eighties.
Advertisement in Kicker magazine
You wouldn’t even find other ads in sports magazines. In them, each company not only explained in detail why their football boots are the best, but sometimes also proudly announced where and on which TV program their advertisement would be shown.
No one was interested in other equipment. Therefore, when it is now heard that after more than seventy years the German national team will change the supplier of the jerseys, it is not true.
2024-03-29 08:00:25
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