German Football Association director Oliver Bierhoff has said he may be able to live with the national team's controversial nickname change, Manschaft, amid widespread criticism.
The name of Hans Joachim Watzke and the former international star and captain of the German national team Lothar Matthaus is among those who wish to cancel that designation.
In statements to the German magazine "Der Spiegel", Bierhoff said in an interview published today, Friday, that he would accept this step if the German Football Association administration agreed to the decision.
The German national team was nicknamed "Mannschaft" before it became the official and marketing designation for the team after winning the 2014 World Cup, and the logo is found on the players' shirts.
However, the matter has met with protests from the fans in recent years, as part of the opposition to the marketing process of German football as a whole, as well as at a time when the team's results have declined.
Bierhoff said that surveys showed that football fans, especially young people, rated the title positive, but added, "If there are convincing opinions against that slogan, we will not ignore it."
"I know that the (Manschaft) slogan represents polarization, but there must be realistic reasons for the slogan to be abolished, not emotional," he added.
For his part, Watzke, CEO of Borussia Dortmund, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German League and a member of the governing body of the German Football Association, rejected the German team's slogan as "out of reach" earlier this year, while Matthaus demanded that the Federation get rid of it.
"Mannschaft usually represents the meaning of unity, but that did not appear on the field in the recent period, and the performance was disappointing," Matthaus said in statements to the German newspaper "Bild".
He added, "Now German football is entering new twists and turns at all levels, so a new name must be chosen to give some freshness."