GERMANY
Adidas change Germany’s number 4 design: here’s what it looks like
The sportswear giant banned sales of the 44 due to perceived similarities to Nazi symbolism. It has now been changed.
Sportswear giant Adidas has banned fans buying the new Germany national team soccer jersey with No. 44 on the back because of a resemblance to the stylised logo of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the infamous paramilitary organisation which served Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It has now been changed.
Germany’s women’s national team played a Euro 2025 qualifier game against Austria and with the substitution of Bibiane Schulze Solano, who came on for Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh minutes before the Germans made it 2-2.
Schulze Solano wore the number ‘4′ shirt that clearly showed a redesign from Adidas and the DFB, moving away from the style that caused so much controversy earlier in the week.
You can make up your own minds with the regard to the likeness, with Adidas and the German Football Association (DFB) opting not to take any chances. It has since been revealed the DFB and 11teamsports, its partners who helped create the new jerseys, will change the design of the number 4 to avoid any confusion.
With the news breaking on Monday 1 April, some social media users believed Adidas and the DFB had attempted a rather risqué April Fools’ joke, which was not the case. The German brand will continue to supply the German national team uniform until 2027, at which point Nike will take over.
Who were the Schutzstaffel (SS)?
The Schutzstaffel, commonly abbreviated as SS, was the Nazi Party’s major paramilitary organisation between 1925 and 1945. Made up of police units and combat forces among others, its members managed concentration camps where mass killings of civilians, including millions of Jews, were carried out during World War II.
The stylised SS symbol is banned across Germany, whether on soccer jerseys or otherwise.
Does any player wear number 44 for Germany men’s team?
While soccer has long since moved away from the traditional numbers 1 to 11, famous number 44s are few and far between. In most international tournaments, countries are required to name 23-player squads (26 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar) and assign them consecutive numbers from 1 to 23 (26). That numbering system is usually respected in other international windows.
Champions League winner Massimo Oddo briefly wore the jersey while playing for AC Milan, as did Tottenham Hotspur winger Dejan Kulusevski when he was at Atalanta, Parma and Juventus. All because Adnan Januzaj used to wear it for Manchester United, the story goes…
But perhaps the most interesting case comes from Germany itself, where RB Leipzig’s Kevin Kampl has number No. 44 on his back for the Bundesliga club. Thankfully, there appears to be no confusion there between 4s and Ss.