Team News

Sportswear manufacturer Adidas and the German Football Association (DFB) have blocked the sale of the German national team jerseys with the number 44 in response to criticism of the design, which resembles a Nazi symbol.

“We will block the customization of jerseys in our online store,” said adidas spokesperson Oliver Bruggen.

As of Monday afternoon, you can no longer customize shirts with your name and number in the “Adidas” online store. Meanwhile, the DFB has stopped the delivery of shirts with the number 44 already ordered in its online store.

Social media users recently noticed that the number 44 in the new design, unveiled last month, resembles the logo of the Schutzstaffel (SS), a large paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party.

Adidas was heavily criticized, but Brüggen said that “the DFB and its partner 11teamsports are responsible for the design of the names and numbers”.

Lionel Messi has picked the four players he thinks could win the Ballon d’Or, but Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham has been snubbed by the Argentine.

Messi won the Ballon d’Or for the eighth time in Paris last October, being voted the best player in the world by 100 journalists.

He beat Erling Haaland and former PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe to become the second-oldest player to win the award at the age of 36.

“The players who will compete for the Ballon d’Or in the future? There could be a nice rivalry in the years to come with players like Haaland, Mbappe, Vinicius and many other players competing for the Ballon d’Or.”

“I also think that Lamine Yamal, who is still very young and now plays for Barcelona, ​​will play an important role and fight for him in the future as well, and most likely there will be players others who will compete, new players who we don’t know from where they will appear, because there are always new players, and I think it will be a very beautiful era to enjoy”, Messi told L’Equipe .

Surprisingly, Jude Bellingham was not in Messi’s thoughts despite winning the ‘Cup’ trophy and finishing 18th on the Ballon d’Or list.

The 20-year-old is enjoying an excellent season with Real Madrid this season and should his good performances continue at Euro 2024, he would be among the contenders for the Ballon d’Or.

The well-known Italian portal “Fanpage” has dedicated an article to the action of a Ukrainian soldier, from the trenches of war, which is about football, the magic of this sport, especially when it comes to the national team, which identifies anyone proudly:

“A Ukrainian soldier watches his national team’s match from the trenches of war. Very powerful image published by journalist Vassili Golod, where you can see a soldier, taking advantage of a moment of rest, watching the 2-1 victory over Iceland in ” play off” and qualification to the finals of “Euro 2024”.

What the Ukrainian journalist has revealed is a photo, the size of which is small, but it makes it clear that football is of fundamental importance in people’s lives, even in the most difficult and sad moments. So, in a war trench, a soldier takes advantage of a break to watch a football match on the tablet he has with him.

Vassili Golod himself wrote these words to accompany the image: “This picture of a soldier in the trench shows the importance of football for Ukraine. The Ukrainian national team overturned a 1-0 deficit against Iceland and qualified for the European Championship. A really nice message among many things sad”.

The match did not go well for Ukraine as Iceland took the lead in the 30th minute through Gudmundsson, but Serhij Rebrov’s men equalized through Tsygankov in the 54th minute and then found the winner in the 84th minute, a Mudryk’s gem. This victory enabled Ukraine to qualify for the final stage of the European Championship. Ukraine will be placed in Group E with Belgium, Slovakia and Romania.”