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The newly designed number four could be seen on the jersey of German national player Bibiane Schulze Solano in the international match against Austria

Photo:

expa; Reinhard Eisenbauer / dpa

After the fuss over the design, the German Football Association (DFB) has redesigned the number 4 on the national jersey. National player Bibiane Schulze Solano, who was substituted at halftime, wore the jersey with the newly designed number on Friday evening in the DFB team's 3-2 win against Austria in Linz.

“We are very happy that it still worked, FIFA has already approved it,” said the DFB on Saturday with a view to the world football association.

The DFB announced a change last Monday in collaboration with its partner 11teamsports. It was now said that the work had already started on Tuesday in view of the short time until the European Championship qualifier for the national players.

In the previous design, the number 44 on the back was reminiscent of the runes of the Schutzstaffel SS from the Nazi era. The combination was noticed on social media and many people took part in the discussion.

Online sales had already stopped

»The DFB checks the numbers 0-9 and then submits the numbers 1-26 to UEFA for review. None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the development process of the jersey design," the association subsequently announced. There were no complaints in either test.

However, the DFB continued to say that they take the information “very seriously” and “do not want to offer a platform for discussions.” Therefore, an alternative design to the number 4 would be developed.

Adidas also commented. “Any attempts to promote divisive or exclusionary views are not part of our values ​​as a brand,” said spokesman Oliver Brüggen. The company “firmly rejects any suggestions that this was our intention.”

Last weekend, the sporting goods manufacturer Adidas and the DFB adjusted the sale of jerseys. It was no longer possible to personalize the jerseys with your own name and number in the Adidas store on Monday afternoon, and the DFB stopped the delivery of ordered combinations with the 44 in its own online shop.

ngo/dpa/sid