The Danish national team will wear single-colored jerseys in Qatar – this is how the outfitter wants to pay tribute to the dead guest workers. The fact that Hummel himself recently equipped Qatari teams is ignored.
To find out how the Danish sporting goods manufacturer Hummel sees itself – or rather: how it would like to be seen – it’s worth taking a look at the company’s Instagram page. In addition to cheering athletes (including the footballers from FC Köln), there are also posts with more political messages. For example, there is the somewhat awkward hashtag #ChangeTheWorldThroughSport, or the announced partnership with a human rights organization, or support for women’s soccer in Afghanistan. A few clicks further on the website, you can find out that Hummel was voted Denmark’s most sustainable clothing brand by consumers in 2020. Socks and caps in rainbow colors are of course also available for purchase.
A new Instagram post fits perfectly into this self-portrayal; on Wednesday, the company announced on social media that it was supplying the Danish national team with kits for the upcoming World Cup, but: “During a tournament that has cost the lives of thousands of people, we don’t want to be visible.” The fashionable solution: three jerseys with only a hint of the supplier’s logo.
The fact that one of the vests is completely black is also a statement on the human rights situation and the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar: “Black. The color of mourning.” The feedback online is almost exclusively positive, with many media adopting the formulations without comment.
At the Handball World Championship in Qatar in 2015, the Russian national team wore Hummel jerseys – with the company logo clearly visible
It is worth taking a look behind the staging of Hummel – and in the company’s “Team Sports Catalogue” from 2018. There you will find a list of the sponsoring partnerships from the year on the back pages. In addition to teams such as SC Freiburg and Füchsen Berlin, Qatar SC and Al Sadd SC are also listed there – both clubs from the capital Doha and not the only football and handball clubs from Qatar that Hummel has proven to have equipped with equipment until recently. Just two years ago, for example, the Al Kharaitiyat club made it into the desert state’s elite soccer league – jubilant pictures show the players celebrating happily in jerseys from the Danish outfitter.
Another official partner today is the World Handball Federation IHF. When it hosted the World Cup in Qatar in 2015, the Russian national team wore Hummel jerseys – with the company logo clearly visible. The company left an SZ inquiry about previous, current and future sponsorships unanswered.
By the way, the jerseys can be bought normally at the Danish Football Association, cost: 80 euros. Maybe Hummel can increase his record profit again in 2022, which was over 15 million euros last year. You can also find out about this on the website.
