But it is the nature of the Adi- and Rudi-driven rivalry that has given both firms their fighting spirit, trying to outdo each other by securing endorsements with the world's top sportsmen and women. Adidas is by far the bigger company, employing 39,000 compared with Puma's 9,000. In business terms, it is Adi who has won. Puma was seen as Catholic and politically conservative, Adidas as Protestant and Social Democratic.' 'Even religion and politics were part of the heady mix. 'There was a time when you'd have risked the wrath of colleagues and family if, as an employee of one company, you married the employee of the other,' says Klaus-Peter Gäbelein of the local Heritage Association. The enmity has divided the town ever since, determining which pubs its 23,000 citizens drank in, the butchers they frequented, who cut their gravestone and which football team they supported. Adi and his wife apparently clambered into an air raid shelter to hear Rudi, who was already there with his wife and family, declare: 'The Schweinhunde (pig dogs) are back.' Adi insisted he had meant the RAF, but Rudi refused to believe him. Many also point to a night in 1943 when Herzogenaurach was under allied bombardment. Town chronicles mention it only in passing as 'internal family difficulties', but the most common explanation is that Rudi (apparently the better-looking one) had an affair with Adi's wife, Käthe, for which he was never forgiven.īut many other accusations fly, over who was the more enthusiastic Nazi (both joined the party in 1933), or who really invented the screw-in soccer boot studs that helped Germany's national team secure its World Cup final victory over Hungary on a soaking pitch in Berne in 1954. What started the spat between the brothers is a point of contention. And here the headquarters of these two giants remain today, barely a couple of miles apart. They disbanded their 25-year-old company, the Gebrüder Dassler Schuhfabrik, which had made shoes for legendary athlete Jesse Owens among others, and formed rival manufacturers on opposite sides of the river Aurach, which runs through the centre of Herzogenaurach. These two global brands were founded 60 years ago after successful shoemaker brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler fell out bitterly.

Puma super liga vs adidas samba