Germany’s draw with Ukraine ahead of Euro 2024 was less about the football and more about the results of a survey that head coach Julian Nagelsmann labeled racist. Fans rallied behind the team in Nuremberg.
Germany could not find a way past Ukraine, but there was a bigger issue in German footballImage: Daniel Löb/dpa/picture alliance
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After an encouraging few months on and off the field, Germany's men had rediscovered their form and revitalised their connection with the country. A dominant display against Ukraine might have ended goalless, but it didn't dent the feeling that both the team and the country are on the verge of a special summer. A recent survey by German public broadcaster WDR has, however, sought to challenge the notion that the country is behind this team.
"We are observing an increase in anti-constitutional, anti-democratic and anti-Semitic attitudes in Germany. We see this with concern," said DFB (German Football Association) President Bernd Neuendorf recently. "These are major challenges facing the country, facing us worldwide. But I still believe that football can send out a positive signal."
Impact of the national team
Germany's team has long played a significant role in shaping German identity and integration. The words of some of the fans attending Germany's game against Ukraine in Nürnberg — a CSU stronghold in which the AfD made gains in the state election last year — proved as much.
"I'm looking forward to it [Euro 2024], and a little proud too because with football we've always delivered a good advert of ourselves and we lost that bit,” Germany fan Thomas told DW. "Now more than ever, we'll show them who we are."
"We Germans are known for our tolerance and that means regardless of skin colour or origin, if you are German then you are one of us."
EU 'peace is at stake if you vote for extreme right'
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"I think such topics are idiotic," said Christian, a young fan in the new kit, when asked about the survey. "We are all one, one country. I don't care what color people's skin is or what language they speak. I think on and off the field we are becoming more unified, perhaps also because the Euros are in Germany. Maybe we can use this tournament to get behind the team like we did in 2006 [when Germany hosted the World Cup]."
Young German fan Denise said: "Every person is equal and if that person represents Germany and can play such fantastic football then we should be happy they play in our team."
"I hope the current tendencies towards the right can be repressed somewhat, and those undecided voters at the European elections can be persuaded not to vote for the right,” added Michael.
It is not insignificant that during the training camp in eastern Germany, 15,000 fans in Jena attended an open training session and provided such vocal support that Thomas Müller said the players even had a hard time understanding Nagelsmann's instructions.
Germany fans appear to have embraced their team again after a drop off in recent yearsImage: IMAGO/Harry Koerber
It matters that nearly 43,000 turned out on a Monday night to watch Germany, that before the game, the players of both teams joined arms in a call for peace and that, even without goals, the wave of euphoria around a home tournament has remained.
Perspective required
"A football team can be a great role model because it unites different cultures, skin colors and religions to work together for a great goal," Nagelsmann said this week. "I hope I never have to read about such a crappy survey again."
Such reflections are a good thing for this team and the country as a whole as it considers what it wants to be and the very real threat of the far right it faces. There is hope though, as the voices in Nuremberg proved. Furthermore, the majority of those asked in the survey, 65%, disagreed with the notion that Germany needed more white players. In February this year around 200,000 people took to the streets in protest of the AfD's resurgence. Germany is counter pressing.
For a squad that has five Black players and whose captain, Ilkay Gündogan, is the son of Turkish parents, the topic of race being raised in the current political climate is no surprise. The marketing campaign around the new kit in March even asked the question: what is typically German?
This team is unlikely to be able to deliver a definitive answer to that, but it is undoubtedly a representation of modern Germany. Now, over the next two months, they hope their football delivers the kind of signal that cannot be ignored.
Edited by: Matt Pearson
Eagle on the chest: Germany football kits over the years
Germany have unveiled their jerseys for the upcoming home Euros. DW takes a look back at some of jerseys worn in previous tournament, starting with the one West Germany wore when winning their first World Cup.
Image: Daniel Karmann/dpa/picture alliance
Pink and purple replaces green
Germany's home kit for Euro 2024 has a very traditional look of mainly white with a touch of black, gold and red on the sleeves. The pink and purple away kit is a complete departure from the dark green often used by Germany. In a statement the German FA (DFB) said the new color scheme is "intended to represent the new generation of German football fans and the diversity of the country."
Image: Daniel Karmann/dpa/picture alliance
2022-23: Single black stripe for the men and women
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was a similar disaster for the German men to four years earlier in Russia. The design, with its wide black stripe down the middle was inspired by the original German jersey from 1908. This was also the first time that an identical jersey would be worn by the men and women. Germany's women wore this jersey in a similarly unsuccessful World Cup down under in 2023.
Image: Marcio Machado/MIS/IMAGO
Distinct lack of color
This one won't go down as one of the favorites, but that has nothing to do with the aesthetics of the garment. This was the kit Germany wore in their disastrous bid to defend their World Cup in Russia in 2018. Toni Kroos, Mesut Özil and Mats Hummels were part of a team that disappointed an entire nation. It would also turn out to be Özil's last tournament before he ended his national team career.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/adidas
World Cup winner
The 2014 jersey was inspired by the one Germany wore in in the 1990 World Cup in Italy. Apparently the three shades of red are meant to represent the black red and gold of the German flag. Instead of the traditional black shorts Germany went with white. Mario Götze will be forever held dearly in German fans' hearts for his winning goal in extra time of the final against Argentina.
Image: Reuters
Summer fairy tale
The 2006 World Cup in Germany is remembered in the host nation as the "summer fairy tale." With Michael Ballack in midfield, Germany played more attractive football than they had in years. Italy proved to be Germany's nemesis though, knocking them out with two goals late in extra time of their semifinal. As for the jersey, just a splash of gold and red broke up the white - plus the black trim.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M.Egerton
France 1998
While keeping the traditional mainly white home kit, the jersey Jürgen Klinsmann and Co. wore next door in France in 1998 featured the horizontal black, red and gold stripes of Germany's flag across the chest. Another new element was the three stars above the eagle for Germany's three World Cup titles. It didn't end well for Germany though, as they fell to Croatia in the quarterfinals.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Berg
Euro 96 champions!
Oliver Bierhoff's golden goal against the Czech Republic sealed the Euro 96 title for Germany at Wembley. The jersey Germany wore when "football came home" to England differed from its predecessors because it featured a white eagle on a black crest.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AFP
Upside down in the United States
Lothar Matthäus and coach Berti Vogts didn't really have a good time in the United States in 1994. The tournament, which saw Steffen Effenberg sent home early, was largely one to forget, with Germany losing to Bulgaria in the quarterfinals.. As for the jersey, one can only wonder who decided it was a good idea to turn the colors of the German flag upside down…
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Berg
Italia 1990
West Germany started wearing this jersey in the 1988 European Championship, which the still divided country hosted. Two years later, West and East Germany were just months from becoming one country, and players from both sides featured in the national team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Leonhardt
Green in the 1986 final
West Germany and Germany have often worn green as their alternate kit. Captain Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and his teammates made it to the final against Argentina in Mexico City's Azteka Stadium in 1986. Rummenigge scored, but his side were second-best to an Argentine team led by a Diego Maradona at the height of his powers. Argentina won 3-2 to hoist the World Cup for a second time.
Image: Getty Images/Bongarts
1974 World Cup
In the 1970s West Germany jerseys were an all-but all-white affair. One notable feature of the jersey worn here by Gerd Müller and Wolfgang Overrath was an eagle that is somewhat bigger than the one on more recent kits. This classic jersey is remembered fondly for the fact that Müller and the rest of the Nationalmannschaft earned the right to lift the World Cup in 1974 in Munich.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Baumann
1954: The Miracle of Bern
The 1954 jersey worn by captain Fritz Walter, Horst Eckel and the rest of West Germany was very similar to those worn for the second World Cup triumph 20 years later. West Germany upset the magic Magyars led by the legendary Ferenc Puskas in the World Cup final 3-2. The match was played on a waterlogged pitch in the Swiss capital. This would become known in Germany as "the miracle of Bern."
