Sports apparel giant Adidas abruptly stopped the sale of German soccer jerseys created with the player number “44” this week because the figure, when depicted in the official lettering of the uniform’s design, too closely resembled a well-known Nazi symbol.

The stylized square font used by Adidas for the jerseys, which will be worn by Germany’s team when it hosts this summer’s European soccer championships, makes the “44” resemble the “SS” emblem used by the Schutzstaffel, the feared Nazi paramilitary group that was instrumental in the murder of 6 million Jews. The emblem is one of dozens of Nazi symbols, phrases and gestures that are banned in Germany.

The country’s soccer federation, which is responsible for the design, said Monday any similarity to the logo created by the design’s numbering was unintentional.

“None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the creation process of the jersey design,” the DFB, the German Football Association, said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. Nonetheless, it said, “an alternative design for the No. 4” was being created in time for use in the team’s coming games.

“As a company we actively oppose xenophobia, antisemitism, violence and hatred in any form,” Adidas said in a statement.

The brief outcry around the lettering of jerseys — and quick reaction by the soccer establishment — is part of a larger debate in Germany around Nazi symbols that has been heating up as a far-right party, the AfD, is surging in the polls. The party has been doing well in eastern Germany, where three states will hold elections later this year.

The discussion about the lettering on Germany’s uniforms is not the first clash over the national jersey in recent weeks. When the team’s official uniforms were unveiled two weeks ago, some politically conservative soccer fans were critical of the pink away jersey that Adidas presented.

But it was the announcement of a major deal with Nike, also last month, which will see the American company replace Adidas as the supplier of Germany’s jerseys starting in 2027 that led to an outcry that included the country’s top politicians.

It will be the first time in Germany’s postwar history that Adidas, a German company, will not make the team’s uniforms.

The New York Times News Service