When Hannover won the title with a little help from their shoes

This day in football history

On 23 May 1954, Hannover won their second German championship, beating Kaiserslautern 5–1. And they did it with a little tactical advantage in footwear.

Six teams — the five regional Oberliga champions and one runner-up — qualified for the German championship tournament and were split into two groups. The two group winners then contested the final, which was played at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.

Before the match, eight of Hannover’s 11 starters were given new Puma boots with a special feature — screw-in studs. Puma had been developing the technology for several years, first releasing the “Super Atom” model in 1951. When Kaiserslautern won the German championship in 1953, seven of their players wore the Super Atom. By 1954, however, Puma had developed an improved style dubbed the “Brasil” and Hannover quickly adopted the new boots.

They must have been quite an improvement. Even though Kaiserslautern took a 13th minute lead, Hannover reeled off five straight goals to take the title with an overwhelming 5–1 victory (including one Kaiserslautern own goal from defender Werner Kohlmeyer in the 48th minute). It was their second title, with the first having come in 1938.

After seeing the success of the Brasil, West Germany used the boot for their 1954 World Cup team which won the tournament over Hungary. Coincidentally, the German team included five members from Kaiserslautern side (including Kohlmeyer), but no player from Hannover.