Adidas change Germany’s number 4 design: here’s what it looks like

The sportswear giant banned sales of the 44 due to perceived similarities to Nazi symbolism. It has now been changed.

Sportswear giant Adidas has banned fans buying the new Germany national team soccer jersey with No. 44 on the back because of a resemblance to the stylised logo of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the infamous paramilitary organisation which served Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. It has now been changed.

Germany’s women’s national team played a Euro 2025 qualifier game against Austria and with the substitution of Bibiane Schulze Solano, who came on for Sara Doorsoun-Khajeh minutes before the Germans made it 2-2.

Schulze Solano wore the number ‘4′ shirt that clearly showed a redesign from Adidas and the DFB, moving away from the style that caused so much controversy earlier in the week.

You can make up your own minds with the regard to the likeness, with Adidas and the German Football Association (DFB) opting not to take any chances. It has since been revealed the DFB and 11teamsports, its partners who helped create the new jerseys, will change the design of the number 4 to avoid any confusion.

With the news breaking on Monday 1 April, some social media users believed Adidas and the DFB had attempted a rather risqué April Fools’ joke, which was not the case. The German brand will continue to supply the German national team uniform until 2027, at which point Nike will take over.

The Schutzstaffel, commonly abbreviated as SS, was the Nazi Party’s major paramilitary organisation between 1925 and 1945. Made up of police units and combat forces among others, its members managed concentration camps where mass killings of civilians, including millions of Jews, were carried out during World War II.

The stylised SS symbol is