We are ready for what‘s coming. Technology driven. Design driven. Storytelling. For the planet.
Statement
It is our vision, motivation and mission to make athletes better, to provide them with the best equipment and to support them reliably. For this, it is not enough to simply develop good products. To achieve it, products must be developed that take all sports-specific characteristics into account, can stand up to any individual strain and guarantee maximum functionality. For us, a product is only good enough when it pushes the athlete to new top performances. In order to achieve this goal, we are in close dialogue with our customers, athletes and partners.
The original brand uhlsport is a full-range supplier in soccer, develops and produces everything from balls to kits, and has been a leader in the development of new technologies in goalkeeper gloves and equipment for decades. Kempa is the expert in handball, outfitter from the shoe to the resin and is also present in various other sports. Today, for example, numerous athletes in wrestling, gymnastics, fencing, athletics or field hockey wear Kempa jerseys on the playing fields and in the sports halls of the world.
Our claim to the highest product quality and our continuous drive for improvement in all our brands are fundamental to the core values of uhlsport GmbH:
Technology driven.
We push for progress. We know that we must and will keep pace with the rapid dynamics of the 21st century. The development of our products – from goalkeeper gloves to handball shoe soles, to high quality apparel – is based on the latest technological innovations in the industry. But we don’t want to go along with it. We want to set new standards.
Design driven.
We follow a clear line. In our products and in our appearance. Two brands with individual demands also mean two own missions and independent collections. Seamless performance as a company is our challenge. We approach it as a team and communicate uniformly: ambitiously and purposefully.
Storytelling.
We have already experienced a lot. After all, we have been playing on the sporting goods market for over 70 years. However, that’s the past. It’s time for new stories. We want to write, design and realise them. Together with our athletes, teams and partners.
For the planet.
We push for progress, but not at any price. We take responsibility in everything we do. For our partners and customers, our employees and also the environment. We are constantly working to reduce our environmental footprint and are committed to ensuring that technological progress goes hand in hand with ever-improving conservation of natural resources. In production as well as in supply chains.
Brave. Progressive. Trustworthy.
We’re ready for what’s coming. For the future, for new challenges and innovations. We face the new, hiding is not an option. To lead, to dare something, to be courageous – that is our guiding principle. Courage leads to success. And anyone who wants to remain successful must be able to rely on each other. We will not disappoint anyone. We motivate and drive people to perform at their best. That is exactly what we demand.
Milestones
1970
beginning of the triumphal march of goalkeeper gloves
1980
positioning as a full-range supplier in football sports
1994
Karl Uhl GmbH becomes uhlsport GmbH
2002
distribution rights for the US basketball brand Spalding are retained.
registration of the handball brand Kempa and equipment of the German national handball team.
2003
Positionierung der uhlsport GmbH als Teamsport-Spezialist mit Fokus auf die Sportarten Fußball (uhlsport), Handball (Kempa) und Spalding (Basketball)
2006
registration of the futsal brand Sala as a sub-brand
2007
Germany wins Handball World Championship in their own country in Kempa jerseys
2014
Ron-Robert Zieler becomes football world champion with uhlsport gloves
2018
Hugo Lloris and Danijel Subasic both play with uhlsport gloves in the World Cup final – France becomes World Champion.
announcement of strategic realignment with digital focus of the entire uhlsport GmbH.
Organisation
uhlsport group is an owner-managed medium-sized company with its headquarter in Balingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The company was founded in 1948 as a specialist for leather studs and taken over by the entrepreneur Günter Daiss in 1998. Until today uhlsport group is owned by the Daiss family.
From Balingen, we still manage the national and international distribution of our both brands, plan our strategies and help to shape the future of team sports.
More than 200 employees work at our Balingen headquarter and the adjacent European central warehouse, from which all international sales partners are supplied. Our domestic sales partners include e-commerce retailers, stationary specialist dealers and other B2B partners. Since 2019, the uhlsport brand has been pursuing a B2C strategy with the uhlsport Goalkeeper Shop with direct sales to end customers in Germany.
As a global contact and professional for team sports needs, uhlsport group has wholly-owned subsidiaries in France, Spain and Scandinavia. In addition, our selected country managers in Great Britain, Switzerland and the BeNeLux states support our work on the European markets. We cooperate with distribution partners in over 80 countries worldwide.
Management board
The uhlsport management team is build by Dirk Hendrik Lehner and Martin Goppelt. As CEO, Lehner is responsible for the corporate areas of strategy, business development and management, product and brand management, and sales management. Purchasing, Supply Chain, Finance & Controlling, QM, HR and IT are the responsibility of Martin Goppelt as COO.
Dirk Hendrik Lehner
CEO
Dirk Hendrik Lehner was born in Wangen im Allgäu in 1971. He completed his commercial education and subsequent business studies in Stuttgart in 1999 with a degree in economics. In the course of his subsequent professional career, he accompanied various management and board mandates of different financial service providers in Germany and abroad.
Since 2021, Dirk Hendrik Lehner has been working for uhlsport GmbH as CEO. In his role as CEO, he is primarily responsible for overall corporate management, national and international sales management, marketing, and product management and development.
Martin Goppelt
COO
Martin Goppelt was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1968. He graduated from Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich in 1993 with a degree in business administration. Goppelt looks back on almost 30 years in various international positions in the sports and fashion industry: In his respective long-term positions at Amer Sports, the adidas Group and most recently in the management of the shoe manufacturer Wortmann, he managed the areas of operations, sourcing, supply chain, quality management and IT, among others.
He joined uhlsport GmbH in 2022 as Managing Director. As COO he is responsible for Purchasing, Supply Chain, Finance & Controlling, QM, HR and IT.