The Puma King boots and the Spaniard who managed to bring Pelé and Maradona to an agreement

Miguel A. Herguedas

Updated Wednesday, February 14, 2024-12:13

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The man who fitted

Pelé

and

Maradona

, the one who kept Puma afloat during one of the most difficult periods of its eternal dispute with Adidas, was from Tenerife and his name was

Hans Henningsen

. His romantic life, halfway between football, business and journalism, died on August 2, 2015 at the age of 81. Henningsen, who had made so many people so much money, died rather poor. And in oblivion. At least in Spain, where not even the newspapers where he had collaborated welcomed a sad obituary. After a life without brakes, the guy who agreed with Pelé and Maradona to wear the

Puma King

, the irresistible achiever, the great friend of

Alfredo di Stéfano

and

Astor Piazzolla

, left without making a noise in his beloved Rio de Janeiro.

Among the adventures of Henningsen, a born seducer who moved with equal ease between the lockers of a locker room and the booths of the

nightclubs

, there is one that deserves special attention. It was during the 1970 World Cup, when Puma recruited him to infiltrate the Brazil camp. By then, Hans already had more than a decade of experience as a correspondent and boasted excellent contacts in the

Canarinha

environment . From

Joao Havelange

, head of Brazilian sports, to the figures of the

Seleçao

. None as attractive, of course, as Pelé. However, Puma had warned him of a non-aggression pact with Adidas. According to that agreement between

Armin

and

Horst Dassler

, Pelé was off the radar for both. Henningsen had to set other goals.

Such an obstacle seemed difficult to assume during the concentration in Guanajuato, where

Mario Zagallo

squeezed his players at more than 2,000 meters of altitude. Pelé still had nothing signed. There was no trace of his agreement with the English brand Stylo, with which he had competed in the 1966 World Cup. The temptation was too strong for Hans, to whom that peace between Puma and Adidas sounded like empty talk. "The situation exceeded the limits of the ridiculous," he wrote to

Barbara Smit

, author of

Hermanos de Sangre

(LID, 2007), the best book on the rivalry between German firms. Henningsen, of course, ended up acting at his own risk. And Pelé's signature would only be the beginning.

95 marks for a signed pair

Because the astonishment that Brazil had aroused in the first phase, with full victories against Czechoslovakia, England and Romania, must have sharpened

Hansi

's ingenuity even more , who managed to convince Pelé for the best

product placement

in the history of football. Just before the opening whistle of the quarterfinal match against Peru, number

10

asked Belgian referee

Vital Loraux

for a few seconds to tie his laces. The television director took the bait and millions of fans from all over the planet could no longer think about anything else but the idol's boots. According to figures leaked by

Helmut Fischer

and

Hans Nowak

, members of the

Puma

staff

, Pelé received $25,000 for the six matches that earned him his third World Cup. In addition, he would receive another 100,000 over the next four years, plus 10% in

royalties

for each pair sold.

As detailed by

Rolf-Herbert Peters

in

The Puma Revolution

(LID Editorial, 2010), the same model of the King without the

O Rei logo -

at a price of 79 marks - was sold less than the one that did have it and cost 95 The commitment to stars of humble extraction with whom the masses could identify began to offer returns. In reality, the values ​​of sacrifice were embedded in Puma's DNA from his birth.

Henningsen (left), with Kissinger and Pelé. HENNINGSEN FAMILY

In the mid-1920s,

Rudolf Hassler

, Adi's brother, had already written down a couple of clear ideas in his diary: "Work hard, never be satisfied with anything. Businessmen who are very satisfied do not make progress. A true businessman does not rest on his laurels. Pelé, the son of a washerwoman from Três Corações, was now a great boost for Puma. However, not even the Santos idol could be considered a pioneer. Because four years earlier, the German firm had begun its journey with another

star:

Eusébio

, known worldwide as

The Black Panther.

The Benfica striker had just wowed during the 1966 World Cup, when he emerged as the top scorer (nine goals), leaving that unforgettable performance against North Korea (5-3) for the annals. "His face had a pristine innocence and beauty, his movements were graceful, but enormously powerful. If Europe had found a rival for Pelé in spectacle and efficiency, it was undoubtedly him," writes

Brian Glanville

in

History of the World Cups

(T&B Editores, 2006 ). In 1968, Puma began marketing the King Eusébio, boots with non-slip nylon studs and a new structure on the sole that significantly improved its flexibility.

"At home we always talked about that time when my father and Armin Dassler almost came to blows"

Carlos Ernesto Henningsen

It was the latest technology, essential to maintain the pace set by Adidas. In 1952, Puma had launched the Super Atom, the first football boot with removable studs, created under the supervision of

Sepp Herberger

, German national team coach. Adidas, official supplier of the

Mannschaft

, would take advantage of this innovation

to score the great success of the 1954 World Cup, when Germany's interchangeable and adjustable studs played an essential role in the final against Hungary (3-2). "Thanks to the Miracle of Bern, the three bands became an internationally recognizable brand and acquired a popularity that others would never achieve," analyzes Smit.

In this context, tinged with a certain inferiority complex, we must frame Henningsen's arrival at Puma, where he would soon occupy the position of director for Latin America. "His command of languages ​​was decisive, since he spoke perfectly in German, English, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish," says

Carlos Ernesto

, one of his sons, in communication with EL MUNDO. "My father had a very big heart, but also a very strong temperament. He would make a friend and he would fight with him. At home they always talked about that time when he and Armin Dassler almost came to blows."

Luis Izquierdo

, Adidas delegate in Spain,

adheres to a much less kind description , who in

Hermanos de Sangre

describes him as someone who "went around showing wads of bills and passing them under the players' noses."

"Hans did not stop still, he traveled incessantly, accompanying the footballers at every step, bringing them the equipment. He was a very affable and very funny guy. He knew that by paying the bill in restaurants and nightclubs, he could maintain the friendship. with the stars and their representatives,"

Josep María Minguella

, who has maintained a "very good relationship" with Henningsen since 1982,

tells this newspaper .

"It was not as popular as Adidas, but Puma knew how to sign the stars. Largely thanks to the magnetism of Hans, who sought and achieved a great impact in each of his operations," adds the man who in 1982 dressed in Barça for Maradona.

However, four years before that thunderous landing at the Camp Nou,

El Pelusa

had already strengthened ties with Henningsen. On the occasion of the World Cup in Argentina, the Puma executive traveled to Buenos Aires to recruit several figures from the host. Among them

Mario Kempes

, who would become the tournament's top scorer, and coach

César Luis Menotti

. At that time, the entire country was torn between the fever for the Albiceleste and the brutal repression of the military dictatorship of

Jorge Rafael Videla

. Henningsen himself was a victim of that regime of terror, as his son confesses. "A week before the start of the tournament, my father spent a night drinking with friends. The matter led to a problem with the police and they put him in prison. From jail he had to phone

Julio Grondona

, then president of AFA. Urged by situation, Grondona contacted the military: "If they don't release him now, Argentina will not play the first match against Hungary."

"An unstoppable pace of life"

With that serious problem resolved, Hans urgently called Armin Dassler to recommend the signing of a somewhat chubby left-footer from Argentinos Juniors called Maradona. According to Smit's aforementioned story, when Puma signed the contract it was

Don Diego

, his father, who had to sign the signature. Months later, the new Boca star would agree to travel to Munich for a publicity event. He would not do it alone, but with an entourage of 20 family members and friends, for whom Dassler had to reserve as many

suites

. "Diego, at that time, had a huge hook with brands. He had signed contracts with Coca-Cola, something that other stars did not achieve. He was happy taking his people everywhere, although that did not benefit him at all. He laughed a lot with them and since he was the great

star

we had to accept it," Minguella emphasizes.

Maradona played in the 1982 World Cup with the Puma Torero and the 1986 World Cup with the Puma Borussia, both evolutions of the King. By then he had already adopted the habit of jumping onto the grass with his boots untied, to catch the attention of photographers. And he had enjoyed, in the company of

Guillermo Coppola

, endless nights with that big-nosed giant who spoke with such a Canarian accent. "He was a spendthrift, a manirroto, with an unstoppable pace of life. He had a network of friends in restaurants and they provided him with absolute credit," journalist Julio

Fajardo

, Henningsen's nephew, recalls to this newspaper.

Henningsen, with Maradona. HENNINGSEN FAMILY

Beyond football, his circle of friends expanded to music, with

Maria Bethânia

or

Gilberto Gil

, and to the stage, with the playwright

Nelson Rodrigues

, who affectionately called him "Onassis in a thong." He had been treating Rodrigues since the mid-60s, when both participated, along with future coach

Joao Saldanha

, in the first international soccer round table on Brazilian television. "At the end of the 80s he was still the most influential sports journalist on the

O Globo

network . In his house in Barra da Tijuca he had about 15 TV sets, to watch all the possible matches at the same time, thanks to a satellite dish," Fajardo lists.

"Maradona admired Pelé very sincerely"

Josep Maria Minguella

One of his last services to the Maradonian cause was forged during the 1986 World Cup. "The AFA did not provide us with clothing and sometimes we had to use our own for training. Puma made my cleats to measure, so I told Hans that brought us all the numbers at his disposal, because there were teammates who played as starters and needed to at least try the material," the Villa Fiorito star would confess, years later. In 1988, Hanningsen ended his relationship with Puma, so he had to turn to journalism. "He had such a degree of trust with Pelé that during the World Cup in Italy he wrote his for

O Globo

as a

ghost writer

," admits his son Carlos Ernesto.

"When Adidas and Puma multiplied their size and the importance of the staff was reduced, I lost track of them," acknowledges Minguella. Fortune would no longer smile on Henningsen in his adventure as a footballer's agent, but the irregular stripe on his boots had already definitively established itself in the collective imagination. Also thanks to

Johan Cruyff

and

Lotthar Matthäus

, who wore the Formstrip despite the tempting offers from Adidas. What he achieved with Maradona and Pelé would remain on Hans' service record forever. "They were two very simple guys. And Diego, although he later got into an argument with him, very sincerely admired Pelé," concludes Minguella, the man who signed, on a napkin,

Leo Messi

's first contract with the club.

Barça.

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