The Germany national team have become “Die Mannschaft”. Two days ahead of Wednesday’s international friendly against the USA in Cologne (20:45 CEST), general manager Oliver Bierhoff has unveiled the World Champions’ new logo, created from a new branding design. The emblem in the middle of the “Die Mannschaft” lettering is a combination of the existing Germany national team logo and the badge from the 2010 World Cup kit. The new logo will be present on the team bus, on the advertising hoardings during international fixtures and on posters.

The new branding fills a gap. France are the “Equipe Tricolore”, Italy are the “Squadra Azzurra”, Spain are the “Furia Roja”, England are the “Three Lions”, the Netherlands are the “Elftal” and Brazil are the “Selecao”. Until now, Germany have lacked a similar label. “There have been lots of titles for the Germany national team,” said Oliver Bierhoff, “but never one that has stuck and gotten across everything that we stand for: Creativity, quality, respect, fair play and of course solidarity, team spirit and togetherness.”

“‘Die Mannschaft’ symbolises our togetherness”

“Die Mannschaft” fits the bill. With this new title, the essence of the brand now carries a fixed term. The name isn’t necessarily a DFB creation. It’s an adoption of a language usage that has already established itself worldwide. “La Mannschaft” say the French, while it’s “El Mannschaft” in the Arabic-speaking world. The majority of people use the German definite article though, so from the USA to the UK, the DFB-Team are “Die Mannschaft”.

It’s a title that brings Germany’s biggest strength to the fore. The DFB-Team is full of individual talent, world-class players with great technical and tactical ability. However, the key to the biggest successes and victories has always been that all of the players put the team first – they work hard for “Die Mannschaft”.

The Germany players also feel that it is the perfect terminology. “‘Die Mannschaft’ symbolises our togetherness. We’re always there for one another and respect each other,” says Mesut Özil. Benedikt Höwedes agrees with his World Cup winning teammate. “To be called ‘Die Mannschaft’ throughout the world really is something special,” said the Schalke captain. “It’s not about the individual players for us, it’s about the team. It’s what distinguishes us, it’s our trademark,” said Toni Kroos, while Mario Götze spoke in a similar vein: “We embody ‘Die Mannschaft’. We play, battle, win and lose together. You can achieve anything as a real team – we have proven that.”

The new logo is gold in colour. In the centre, surrounded by three circles, is the German eagle, a symbol for all of the DFB’s national teams. The lettering “Deutscher Fußball-Bund” is immortalised in the middle circle, while the four stars that represent Germany’s four World Cup titles sit above the badge. “The combination works really well I feel,” said Oliver Bierhoff. “We wanted to unify the past and the present. ‘Die Mannschaft’ isn’t just the current team, so we wanted to use the four stars to represent our past successes as well. I am confident that the fans will be able to identify with it.”