Germany four jersey redesigned for suggesting Nazi symbolism | International football

The design of the number four on the Germany national football team’s shirts is to be changed due to concerns that the number “44” may resemble the symbol used by Nazi SS units.

The new kit, launched before Germany hosts the European Championship, which will kick off on June 14th, was debuted during the preparatory game against France (2-0), last month. And although the design had been submitted for approval to UEFA, no objections had been raised.

This did not stop the German Football Association (DFB) from recognizing that it may have a potential problem on its hands and, to avoid it, it has already taken measures, announced through the social network X.

“The DFB checks the numbers 0-9 and then submits the numbers 1-26 to UEFA for analysis. None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the process of creating the shirt’s design”, he began by framing.

“However, we take the comments very seriously and do not want to give rise to arguments… We will develop an alternative design for the number 4 and coordinate it with UEFA.”

Furthermore, the official supplier of the DFB, Adidas (which will be replaced by Nike from 2027), had previously assumed that it would remove the number 44 from its range of customization options, precisely to avoid interpretations that referred to the old state police.

“We will block the number 44 as quickly as possible,” Adidas spokesman Oliver Bruggen told German media. “As a company, we actively oppose xenophobia, anti-Semitism, violence and hatred in any form.”