Dhe German Football Association (DFB) will no longer use the marketing slogan “The Team” for the national team. This was decided unanimously by the supervisory board and shareholders’ meeting on the DFB campus in Frankfurt. The mark had been used since 2015. However, the slogan will not be removed immediately, so it will still appear on the jerseys at the World Cup in Qatar.
“Surveys and analyzes have shown that the name ‘The Team’ is well known and is particularly well known abroad. He stands for values such as team spirit and success,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf: “But the fact is that he is sometimes viewed critically in fan circles in this country and discussed emotionally. But what the national team looks like is more important than its name.”
According to the DFB, the decision was based on an analysis “based, among other things, on evaluations of previous and current representative surveys as well as selected expert interviews”. The results have “recently increased interest in the team and greater satisfaction with their performances as well as increasing sympathy values for ‘The Team'”. “However, especially with regard to the further use of the name, there was no uniform picture”.
Neuendorf had recently announced that he wanted to decide on the brand by the end of July: “I’m not a fan of endless stories”. Oliver Bierhoff, DFB managing director national teams and academy, had shown himself open to the abolition of the term. If the association’s executive committee decides to do so, he can “live with it,” said Bierhoff, who is considered the creator of the name.
