I play football
The fashionable questions surrounding the Red Devils’ Tintin outfits pale in comparison to the controversy that arose over the uniforms of the German national football team. The shirt number 44 evokes sour memories of National Socialism.
No player of the German national football team usually wears the jersey number 44, but it is still the football shirt that gets the most attention. It is not so much the jersey itself that is striking, but the font of the back and chest numbers. There, manufacturer Adidas opted for an angular style, making number 44 very similar to the SS runes. That was the symbol of the German SS elite troops, who sowed terror during the Third Reich.
The manufacturer describes the design of the jerseys as “inspired by German national symbols”. The shirt that the Mannschaft will wear this summer at the European Championships in their own country would combine “all the classic symbols of the four-time world champion”, according to the official Adidas website. Journalist Tobias Huch tested that it is possible to order a shirt with number 44/SS, and the personal inscription “Führer”. Huch explicitly states that he distances himself from National Socialism. Adidas and the German Football Association have not yet responded to the controversy.
