The Germany Football Association (DFB) and its supplier Adidas have moved swiftly in response to warnings that the font used in the numbers on national soccer team jerseys could inadvertently resemble a notorious Nazi SS symbol.
The numeral four on the jerseys features the top vertical lines at uneven heights with the right shorter than the left, thus appearing similar to the SS lightning bolt logo now employed regularly by neo-Nazis. Adidas spokesman Oliver Bruggen said the company would “block the number 44 as quickly as possible.”
Bruggen said on behalf of the German shoe giant—which recently paid a huge cost to end its partnership with antisemitic rap artist Ye (Kanye West) in 2022—that “as a company we actively oppose xenophobia, antisemitism, violence and hatred in any form.”
The DFB wrote in a statement that, “We take the comments very seriously and do not want to provide a platform for discussions…we will develop an alternative design for the number 4 and coordinate it with UEFA.”
In Germany, the public display of the SS symbol can lead to criminal prosecutions, with convictions potentially resulting in years behind bars.