David Beckham To Produce Adidas V. Puma Sneaker Feud Doc Series With Boat Rocker Studios & Matador Content

EXCLUSIVE: British soccer star David Beckham is lacing up his boots to produce a documentary mini-series about the feud between sports brands Adidas and Puma.

The former Manchester United player, via his production company Studio 99, has teamed up with Boat Rocker Studios, Unscripted and its company Matador Content to produce World War Shoe.

The three-part series will tell the tale of the decades long feud between the two Dassler brothers, Adi and Rudi, who started competing shoe companies in the same small German town and went on to create two of the most recognizable lifestyle brands in the world. Adi Dassler founded Adidas, while his brother Rudi founded Puma. The two became bitter rivals who never reconciled after 40 years of fighting. It will follow the athletes, the legal battles, and the secret details of the lifelong feud that played out on the world stage, and forever influenced pop culture, music and fashion.

Stealing Charlie Chaplin director Philip Boatswain is attached to direct and Lisa Vangellow is on board as a producer.

It comes after Beckham launched Studio 99 in 2019 with long-term manager David Gardner and MD Nicola Howson with a slate of sports, travel and fashion projects as well as a development agreement with Uninterrupted, the media company co-founded by LeBron James and business partner Maverick Carter. The two firms are co-producing a documentary series about upcoming U.S. soccer franchise Inter Miami CF, the expansion team in which Beckham is a co-owner.

Matador Content is behind series such as TBS’ Go-Big Show and Apple TV+’s doc Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry. Jay Peterson, co-founder of the company, was promoted to President, Boat Rocker Studios, Unscripted at the end of last year as part of a restructure.

“We’re excited to work with David, Philip, Lisa, and everyone at Studio 99 to bring the incredible story of the brothers behind two of the biggest brands in the world to the screen,” said Peterson and Todd Lubin, President, Matador Content. “We promise you’ll never look at your sneakers the same way again.”

“This is a dramatic and compelling tale,” said Howson. “It’s not often you find an untold story which will resonate with so many people globally and we are delighted to be partnering with Boat Rocker and Matador to bring it to life.”