Send with colorful messages of love, back to the future with black, red and gold: the German national team is playing again with a captain’s armband in the national colors on the way to the home European Championship in 2024. This was confirmed by the German Football Association (DFB) when asked by SID. The “Bild” newspaper reported about it first.
The DFB selection is following a suggestion from the new national team director Rudi Völler, who recommended moving away from the much-discussed piece of material after the World Cup theater around the “One Love” armband. “I would say from the gut: We should wear a captain’s armband in the colors of Germany,” Völler told “Sport Bild”.
Substitute captain Joshua Kimmich will wear the new, old bandage for the first time on Saturday (8.45 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the national soccer team and on ZDF) in Mainz against Peru. It stays on the arm of the respective captain until the EURO. The bandage specified by the European Football Union (UEFA) should then be worn at the tournament.
The fan alliance “Unsere KURK” is reacting to the decision with great reluctance: “The DFB has meanwhile gotten itself into a situation in which it can hardly do anything right,” said Thomas Kessen, one of the spokespersons for “Unsere KURK”. the sports information service. “If this is supposed to be the sole result of dealing with the sporting failure, then we think that’s very thin,” said Kessen.
“Calm down a little”
The return to black-red-gold also means a rejection of the rainbow armband that captain Manuel Neuer has already worn. DFB captain Alexandra Popp is currently playing with her.
With the new, old sign “everything would calm down a bit”, believes Völler: “I understand that you have to set a sign from time to time. But now it’s about football again.”
However, according to Völler, there was applause from the right-wing political fringe. The reaction of the DFB came promptly. “We will in no way let ourselves be taken in by the AfD or get close to them,” it said, and: “Regardless of the design of the captain’s armband, black-red-gold stands for us for democratic values, for diversity, respect and community. And not for exclusion and intolerance.”
The return to sports is also one of Hansi Flick’s fervent desires. The national coach had repeatedly described the argument about “One Love” at the World Cup before the opening game against Japan (1: 2) as very disturbing. Neuer, in particular, “felt alone on the whole issue,” he emphasized, and demanded: “There must never be so much pressure again – neither on an individual player nor on a team.”
Before the Japan game, in which Flick’s team gave up the lead, “they almost only talked about the armband,” Flick grumbled: “I hope we learn from this situation. All. Me, but also politics and the association.” Such sensitive issues would have to “be cleared up beforehand, that’s the clear lesson from this World Cup,” added the national coach.
When his squad was nominated for the international matches against Peru and three days later against Belgium, Flick did not want to comment on the subject of the bandage last Friday. “I haven’t dealt with that at all. We have many other things to do,” he said. Nevertheless, the question is now settled.
