The German football team’s partnership with Nike is officially underway as they released their first teaser campaign for the national team kit on Thursday.
The campaign featured a sprawling billboard on the New Jersey waterways, along with a promotional video.
The location choice of New Jersey is strategic, given it coincided with Germany’s final Group E game against Ecuador. Even though they lost the encounter 2-1, the result was enough to see Germany through to the Round of 32 as group-winners.
The city horizon on matchday was dominated by a massive billboard on top of a carrier. It read “Hallo New Jersey” and featured a picture of Jamal Musiala wearing the new number 10 jersey.
However, the details of the shirt were pixelated to build anticipation. Next to the photo of Musiala was a tag that declared “coming soon”.
To aid the live campaign, Nike released a video where a fan is seen peering across the harbour to get a look of the billboard.
A zoomed-up view of the banner follows, before cutting across to another fan in a blue tracksuit alongside the bay.
The newspaper in his hand carries details of the Germany-Ecuador fixture, until a loud foghorn penetrates the fan’s attention.
The footage then switches to a boat where a certain Mario Gotze is sitting in the driver’s seat.
The curious thing to note would be that, for Gotze, Nike actually made a real pixelated shirt, instead of making the edits in the video.
Only the number 19 can be made out on the front of his shirt, the same digits he wore when he scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina.
Speculative leaked designs of the jersey (seen below) showcase a classic white shirt with subtle grey embossing, and black accents along the sleeves and collar.
On the sides, there appear designs boasting the German flag’s colours of red and yellow.
While the guerrilla Nike campaign has garnered attention given it hijacks the ongoing World Cup, their offerings have not managed to convince the fans.
Over the years Adidas has produced some iconic kits for the national team. The latest Nike teaser has only triggered fans to publish their favourite rendition by the German manufacturers over the years.
In fact, even their current shirt for the 2026 World Cup is a tribute to a legendary Adidas design from the 1990s. Germany had worn a similar tribute kit in 2014, making it two World Cup wins with a similar design.
I’m still extremely upset about the German National Team leaving Adidas for Nike when I see these pic.twitter.com/8W1vAzEPdp
— Ronan 🔴⚪️ (@roro_fcb) June 25, 2026
Fans have also tried to save the much-maligned rendition from Nike by adding the colours of Germany flag to the teased version –
Nike’s contract is set to run from 2027 up till 2034, spanning two World Cups and as many Euros. The collaboration marks an end to Germany’s 70-plus year partnership with home-based Adidas that began in 1954.
Die Mannschaft have worn Adidas kits in almost every men’s and women’s World Cup ever since, barring the 1966 and 1970 edition when they briefly joined hands with Umbro.
Nike, thus, have big boots to fill, and it remains to be seen whether they can live up to expectations.
