After years of controversy, the German Football Federation (DFB) plans to give up the official nickname of the national team before the World Cup in Qatar, ‘The manners’, accused of never misleading fans and covered up other teams. Painted in large letters on the team bus and used in all German FA communications since 2015, ‘Die Mannschaft’ is German for ‘The Team’.
Many other German teams see the name arrogant, as if there is only “one team” in the world, the German men’s team. “This expression (…) is disrespectful to all the other winning teams,” attacked the influential DFB vice president Hans-Joachim Watzke, also coach of Borussia Dortmund, who asked his own federation to ” put their feet on the floor “.
Another DFB vice president, Hermann Winkler, believes that “almost no fan no longer recognizes this expression and thus our team.” Oliver Bierhoff, technical director of the national team, had a different view: “I know the expression ‘Die Mannschaft’ is divisive, but fans abroad have just called that on our team for years. It’s been a concept that is very powerful with enormous diffusion ”. Coach Hansi Flick also favors keeping the expression: “For me it’s ‘The Team’, because every player is part of Germany and wants to play for this country.”
The presidium (supreme body) of the Federation must decide in July, to “find a solution in time before the World Cup,” according to Winkler. After Germany’s world title in Brazil in 2014, the DFB decided to formalize the nickname. But the traditionalist fringe of German fans reacted poorly to the initiative, seeing it as a commercial operation of the DFB, disconnected from the national culture of the fans. It was also not ‘bought’ by the German press and now continues to use the words ‘Nationalelf’ (the national eleven), ‘DFB-Elf’ (the eleven DFB), ‘DFB-Auswahl’ (the team of DFB) or DFB -Group.
However, ‘Mannschaft’ is likely to live for a long time outside of Germany until it officially disappears, as journalists around the world prefer nicknames.
Source: La Verdad
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