TENSE BATTLES
Puma, with its leaping cat logo, has 12 World Cup teams under contract and has replaced its larger foe Adidas as the top sponsor at the second-biggest sporting event after the Olympics, which kicks off on June 9 in Berlin.
Only six teams at the month-long tournament will play in Adidas's three-stripes kit because many of its advertising partners, like European champions Greece, failed to qualify.
Competition in the global sporting goods industry is fierce and every match won and lost during the event could affect sales of replica jerseys.
In Herzogenaurach tensions will be running especially high, although they have eased in recent years.
Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer has even congratulated his Puma counterpart Johen Zeitz for his company's recent success with sports lifestyle fashion.
Remarkably, in a move unthinkable even a decade ago, Adidas has even hired a grandchild of Puma founder Rudolf Dassler as its top legal adviser.
"This stirred some excitement in town but it was also a sign that things have relaxed in daily life," said 65-year-old mayor Lang, who has always lived in the town. "People have mixed up."
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