Once upon a rainy afternoon in the year of 1923, a young shoemaker by the name of Albert Messmer was standing looking at a football match in his hometown of Eppendorf - Germany. While he was watching the players finding it hard to gain their ground on the heavy and muddy pitch he suddenly got a good idea. He went home to his workshop, worked all night and the next morning he came out very proud with his first sports product – a football boot with cleats. Subsequently, young Albert partnered up with his brother Michael to create a company called hummel, the German word for bumblebee. The football boot in particular was the starting point for hummel, a company that later grew to become big and strong.