By Melody Gross 
The design of the number four on Germany's national football team shirts is set to be changed over concerns that the number '44' may resemble the symbol used by Nazi SS units.
The new kit was launched ahead of Germany hosting the European ChampionshipHe appeared for the first time during the preparatory match against France (2-0) last month. Although the design was submitted for approval by UEFA, no objections were raised.
?? ??????????????????????? | Adidas announces that it will ban customizing German shirts with the number “44” on its official website due to the similarity to the SS rune resulting from the printing of the font.
“SS” is an abbreviation of “Schutzstaffel” which means “protection squadron”… pic.twitter.com/z5cg6wDvbY
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But this did not prevent the German Football Association from realizing that it might have a potential problem on its hands, and to avoid it, it has already taken measures announced on the social network X.
“The German Football Association checks the numbers from 0 to 9 and then submits the numbers from 1 to 26 to UEFA for analysis. None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the process of creating the shirt design,” he began by framing.
“However, we take the comments seriously and do not want to cause controversy. We will develop an alternative design for the number 4 and coordinate it with UEFA.”
Furthermore, the official supplier of the German Football Association, 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, specifically to avoid interpretations referring to the old state police. .
Adidas spokesman Oliver Bruggen told German media: “We will remove the number 44 as soon as possible.” “As a company, we actively oppose xenophobia, anti-Semitism, violence and hate in any form.”