Adidas has stopped the sale of Germany shirts with the number 44, because of a resemblance to the logo of the Nazi party's infamous SS paramilitary units.
Adidas on Monday stopped offering the personalisation of shirts names and numbers, and the German football federation halted the delivery of shirts with the number 44 from its own online shop.
The federation said it was looking for an alternative design for the number 4 together after a historian raised concerns about the “very questionable” design.
The move to withdraw shirts with the number 44 came after it was pointed out that the two fours together resembled the stylised SS used by the Nazi party's Schutzstaffel group.
Commonly known as the SS, it included police units, combat forces and others who ran the concentration camps that carried out the mass killings of civilians during the Second World War.
The stylised SS symbol is banned in Germany today.
“None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the development process of the shirt design," the federation said on X, formerly Twitter.
Adidas spokesman Oliver Bruggen told news agency dpa that the federation was responsible for the design of the names and numbers on the shirts.
"People from around 100 countries work at Adidas,” he said.
"Our company stands for the promotion of diversity and inclusion, and as a company we actively campaign against xenophobia, antisemitism, violence and hatred in all forms.
"Any attempts to promote divisive or exclusionary views are not part of our values as a brand."
Mr Bruggen said Adidas "strongly rejects any suggestions that this was our intention".
It is the second time in recent weeks that the design of an international football kit has caused controversy.
Some England fans were critical of changes made to the St George’s cross on the collar of the team’s shirt, with Nike claiming that the use of purple in the cross was intended as a playful update on the flag colours.
However, some accused Nike of “virtue signalling”, with both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak criticising the change.
Germany is hosting the European Championship from June 14 to July 14.
