The clothing manufacturer Adidas cut a disgrace in Germany, because of which they have to quickly redo the jerseys of the national football team. The reason is the shape of the numbers, because one combination is strikingly similar to the symbol of the Nazi SS units. The German national football team also announced that it is ending its long-term cooperation with the German brand and that the equipment will be supplied by the American Nike.
From a regular correspondent
Berlin
19:07 April 2, 2024
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Adidas wanted to please the fans and before the European Championship started offering jerseys that everyone can customize to their liking. The clothing brand has also developed its own font for them, but the shape of the four resembles lightning.
Adidas has created jerseys for the German national football team that feature the number 44 as the symbol of the SS
Customers who chose the number 44 jersey should have received a white jersey with black numbers, which, from a distance, look like the runic symbols associated with the Nazi SS.
The users of the social network X were the first to draw attention to it, where the jerseys aroused both ridicule and outrage. Adidas has already announced that it will correct the error. The German soccer team wants to quickly come up with a different shape for the number four, and the company is also canceling all orders in which someone has already ordered a jersey with the number 44 on the back.
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However, Adidas did not specify how many people ordered it and whether they did it because of the recession, or perhaps it also attracted followers of the extreme right.
However, the company has already limited some combinations in advance, which is done more or less automatically in Germany. Names such as Hitler or Führer (leader) cannot be printed on the jersey.
The shape of the numbers was given the go-ahead by the football organization UEFA, but it is said that they only looked at combinations from one to twenty-six, so no one noticed what two fours look like next to each other.
Termination of cooperation
This is the third inconvenience for Adidas recently, and the previous ones were related to football. Only a few weeks ago, the company showed the jerseys for the German national team, which will be in two versions. In addition to the traditional white with the German tricolor, a new combination of purple and pink was used.
According to the designers, it reflects the diversity of the country, but the design has drawn criticism among fans, and there have been calls for a boycott on social networks, as some people saw it as promoting sexual minorities, for example.
Just a few days later, the management of Adidas learned much more serious news. The German Football Association allegedly informed him just a few hours in advance that they would end their cooperation with him after 70 years and several European and world titles.
The equipment for the German national team will be provided by the American company Nike. Politicians also reacted to this, for example, according to Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck, it would be appropriate for the German national team to be patriotic in this case, because the country is home to the only two brands that can still somehow compete with Nike. Next to Adidas, it is a Puma brand.
According to the information Süddeutsche Zeitungin this case, money was the deciding factor, as the Americans would pay about twice as much to sponsor the Germans as the three-stripe brand.
Fear of terrorism
This year’s European football championship is hosted by Germany from mid-June. The police and authorities are already worried about the event. On the one hand, they are worried about the behavior of the fans themselves, for example during matches where countries with not exactly the best relations, at least not football-wise, face each other. Typically, these are, for example, matches between Italy and Croatia.
However, another dimension is added to this, namely the fear of terrorism, especially Islamic terrorism. Islamists could theoretically attack not only stadiums, but also cities that will be full of foreign tourists during the championship.
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Spiegel magazine had already pointed this out before the recent assassination attempt in the suburbs of Moscow, but this attack has made the fears even stronger. The Federal Ministry of the Interior assures that it monitors the Islamist scene closely and takes the risk extremely seriously.
In addition, Germany will control the borders with all neighboring countries throughout the championship. Borders with the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria and Switzerland are already being monitored, and this regime will last at least until mid-July.
The question, however, is whether Germany will not prolong this situation by saying that it will no longer argue about the championship, but will return to the current justification, i.e. the alleged fight against illegal migration.
Václav Jabůrek, job
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