The day: June 14, 1970. Brazil was playing in the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Mexico 1970 against Peru. The first televised world cup in color would multiply the passion for soccer. Before the kick-off, a player, the 10th of the Amazon team, made a gesture that would give him millions: he knelt down, laced up his Puma sneakers and stood up. It was Pele.
This simple action positioned feline slippers globally: the best soccer player of that time, perhaps of all time, was focused with his Puma.
A gigantic advertising strategy It cost thousands of dollars at the time, definitely worth it.
Sales of Puma shoes skyrocketed and this World Cup would be the last for Pelé, leading his team to win the three-time championship. An unbeatable setting for dissemination.
Puma against Adidas, the battle of the kings with Pelé at the helm
Cougar was a company of German origin, arisen by the differences between Adolf and his brother Rudolf Dassler. He was born in 1948, after the separation between both relatives, Adolf staying with the future Adidas.
In the 60s, Puma opted to find sports stars to wear their shoes. was born the Cougar King, and its first promoter was the Portuguese Eusebio, wearing them in the 1966 World Cup in England, where he scored 9 goals, remaining as the leader.
Four years later, it was the turn of another king, O Rei Pele. Another winning bet from Puma, with 10 raising the cup.
Other legends of the sport would come later: Johan Cruyff in Germany 1974, although the feline brand would lose the final against its archrival, the Adidas of Rudolf Dassler’s brother, who dressed the German team.
Mario Alberto Kempes in 1978, champion with Argentina. Diego Armando Maradona in 1986, hitting back at Adidas for the Germans in the final. And already in current times, players like Neymar or Luis Suarez, among others.
Winning spirit, classic design
Those shoes that Pelé tied in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico have not changed much in style since then: they were black, with a stylized thick white line.
In the technological, the instep was padded, with a conical stud sole.
Today they already have various colors, and other elements that further protect the feet of athletes. But in essence, they have the spirit of those Puma Kings from O Rei in their moment of glory in Mexico.
