Rivals to merge? Adidas and Puma could be set for a historic partnership

Adidas may be about to acquire Puma: the football equivalent is something akin to the Manchester clubs joining, or Bayern Munich setting aside their differences with Borussia Dortmund.

Over the course of almost a century, Adidas has established itself as one of the biggest brands in the world, thanks in part to its presence in sport, and particularly football: the German manufacturer have produced some of the most iconic football shirts, greatest boots and classiest match balls of all time, becoming a byword for quality.

However, entrenched in Adidas's origin story is a bitter rivalry: Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolph were once business partners who split in 1947, with Adi forming his own company from his name in the Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach, while ‘Ruda’ created what would later be rebranded as Puma on the other side of the river Aurach.

Could Adidas and Puma put all that bad blood aside?

The two brands have had their fallouts. It goes deeper than Puma infamously breaking a pact to sign Pele at the height of the Brazilian's popularity: the Adidas/Puma split is a Shakespearean conflict with religion and politics chucked in for good measure.

Divided by arguments over not wearing the other's products in each factory, and even bickerings about which founder was more fanatical about the Nazi Party, Herzogenaurach became known as “the town of bent necks” – what shoes your neighbours wore never went unnoticed – and though the two brothers are buried in the same cemetery today, they were laid to rest as far apart as possible.

Yet rumours are rife that would see the pair of sportswear pioneers turning in those respected graves, with Adidas potentially staging a takeover of Puma, according to Footwear News.

Adidas have noted that they “refrain from commenting on market speculation as a matter of principle” – but with Puma shares gaining traction, speculation is growing that the two businesses could be about to merge.

Adidas have been here before: remember Reebok? The brand was an iconic kit manufacturer for the likes of Liverpool and produced boots for players like Thierry Henry and Ryan Giggs, but were acquired by the German brand in 2006, disappearing from football altogether.

English-based Umbro, meanwhile, has endured despite takeovers. While the kit manufacturer for the England national team, the brand went Stateside when it was bought by Nike in 2007 – it even appeared in Nike's legendary Write The Future commercial in 2010 – and though Nike took the Three Lions gig, Umbro has stuck around in the Premier League since, and was sold to Castore last year.

So what becomes of Puma? Are they the next Reebok or the next Umbro?

So if this happens, what would happen to the Puma brand?

Puma have several of football's biggest clients: Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund are two A-listers, while the Premier League is currently in the first year of a ball deal with the German brand.

Adidas are obviously bigger than Puma – they made €23 billion to Puma's €8bn last year and employ 62,035 people to Puma's 18,681 – so as such, Puma position themselves as an underdog with their marketing. Why else would they attempt to stand out as much as they do with some of their kits?

But that's not to say that the cat logo hasn't become iconic in its own right: with boots like the Puma Kings and clients like Usain Bolt, it seems highly unlikely that Adidas would simply want to absorb everything from their rivals and splash three stripes across it – as satisfying as that may be for Adi traditionalists.

In FourFourTwo's opinion, it may be way too early to say – and these rumours may be wide of the mark – but don't expect relations between these two factions to thaw overnight, even if a takeover is agreed. Even if Puma does one day sit under the Adidas umbrella, there's enough history here to ensure it won't be a painless transition…