Football goals and sports equipment from Schäper in craftsmanship quality

Schäper's soccer goals and many other sports equipment can be found in sports facilities all over the world. The Münster-based company owes its success story to a flash of inspiration and its flexibility in craftsmanship.

This article is part of the special feature " Crafts and Sport: An unbeatable team".

Approximately 70 percent of all Bundesliga stadiums today feature aluminum goals from Schäper Sportgerätebau GmbH , estimates Managing Director Dr. Josef Hesse . The sports equipment from Münster is also in demand in track and field, hockey, and tennis. The company owes its success to a stroke of genius. In 1960, master carpenter Klemens Schäper founded his business, initially producing windows.

"Then a club from Münster asked him if he could repair a football goal," recounts Cornelia Hesse , daughter of the company founder and also part of the management team. Because the wooden crossbar was sagging badly, Schäper came up with the idea of ​​building a rotating one. "That was the starting point for clubs like Schalke to take notice of him."

Schäper discovered aluminum as a material for sports equipment 

Sustainability has been a key topic in the company from the very beginning. Even when no one was talking about it, the managing directors talk about it. Photo: © Schäper Sportgeräte GmbH

Schäper switched careers and specialized in soccer goals and athletics equipment such as takeoff boards for the long jump and wooden hurdles, which were quickly used at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

A turning point in the company's history came in 1971 , when a goalpost broke during a Bundesliga match. "In April 1971, during the Bundesliga match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Werder Bremen, Gladbach's center forward Herbert Laumen fell into the Bremen goal net in the 88th minute, and one of the wooden goalposts bent and broke," according to the company history.

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The era of wooden football goals came to an end . "My father-in-law was lucky enough to have hired a metalworker and was able to switch quickly." He discovered aluminum as a material for sports equipment – ​​not just football goals.

Josef Hesse and his wife Cornelia, together with Ulrich Schäper , now run the company in its second generation and have expanded it from 16 to 70 employees over the past 20 years. The equipment is shipped from Münster throughout Europe, and sometimes worldwide.

"We have always been sustainable"

"That's how we've developed over the years, and we're still here," says Hesse. That's not something to take for granted in an industry facing stiff competition from Asian products. But in sports, the connection between quality and durability is still recognized. "We've always been committed to sustainability," Hesse says. Back in the 70s, company founder Klemens Schäper made sure his equipment was repairable.

The training company hopes that this year's major sporting events will give a boost to grassroots sports and encourage more children and young people to train not only in e-sports but also in clubs. "We feel the effects of sporting successes in athletics or football immediately."

Article from 2024, updated in June 2026

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