The German national team is ending its long-standing partnership with Adidas and has signed a deal that will see Nike make its kits from 2027.

Adidas last signed an eight-year contract with the Germany Football Federation (DFB) in 2018, meaning the men’s 2026 men’s World Cup will be one of the last times the German team’s kit is manufactured by the country’s most famous sportswear company.

During Adidas’ partnership with Germany, which has spanned more than seven decades, the team has won four men’s World Cups, three men’s Euros, two women’s World Cups and eight women’s Euros with the collaboration responsible for many iconic shirts during the 1980s and 1990s.

The DFB’s contract with Nike will run until 2034. “We are grateful to be able to look forward to an economically stable future again as an association thanks to Nike’s commitment,” DFB treasurer Stephan Grunwald said.

“The award to the future supplier partner Nike is the result of a transparent and non-discriminatory tender,” DFB chairman Holger Blask added.

“Nike made by far the best economic offer and also convinced with its content vision, which also represents a clear commitment to the promotion of amateur and popular sports as well as the sustainable development of women’s football in…

The United States and Mexico have confirmed their joint-bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have also submitted a joint European bid to world football’s governing body FIFA, while Brazil lodged their offer a day before the December 8 deadline.

South Africa had been in the initial running, only to withdraw their interest last month to instead focus on the 2031 tournament.

The U.S hosted the tournament in 1999 and 2003, while Germany were the host nation in 2011.

The 2023 World Cup — hosted by Australia and New Zealand, and won by Spain — was the first women’s tournament to be held across two countries, but a competition across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany would be the first hosted in three countries.

Brazil would make history if they were selected, with the Women’s World Cup having never previously been hosted in South America.

What happens next?

After officially confirming the bidders, FIFA will next organise on-site inspection visits to bidding countries in February.

The hosts are then expected to be appointed when the FIFA Congress meets on May 17, 2024.

The bids

U.S./Mexico

The United States and Mexico announced their bid on April 19 just before the kickoff of an international friendly between the U.S. men’s national team…

Germany Women boss Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has left her role.

The DFB (German FA) announced the decision, it said, following a meeting on Friday with Voss-Tecklenburg in which the team’s performance at this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand was analysed.

Germany were among the tournament favourites after reaching the final of the 2022 Euros. However, they suffered a shock exit at the group stage after winning only four points from their three matches.

Voss-Tecklenburg remained in her role after the World Cup and oversaw three wins from four Nations League matches in the two international breaks since.

But, with club football returning this weekend, the DFB and Voss-Tecklenburg have agreed to part ways. The 55-year-old German was appointed to the role in 2019, having previously spent six years as Switzerland Women head coach.

“I would like to thank Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on behalf of the DFB and also personally for her work over the last few years,” said DFB president Bernd Neuendorf.

“During this period, important impetus has been given to women’s football. Getting to the final at the European Championship in 2022 in England gave women’s and girls’ football a huge boost.

“This success is and will remain associated with Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. We…

When Arsenal signed Kai Havertz back in July, manager Mikel Arteta proclaimed, “He will bring a huge amount of extra strength to our midfield.”

It’s relatively unusual for Arsenal to be so specific about how and where a player will be used at their unveiling — especially when it comes to one as versatile as Havertz. Yet the German international was also plonked emphatically into the “midfield” category on the Arsenal website’s squad page.

It had the air of a rebranding exercise — an attempt to separate this Havertz from the one who had underwhelmed as a forward at Chelsea. It felt as if we might see the 24-year-old lean forward like the guy in the Bleu de Chanel advert to tell the assembled media, “I’m not going to be the person I’m expected to be anymore”.

And yet, thus far at Arsenal, Havertz has largely been that person. As Arteta seeks to bed him into his new-look midfield, he has resembled what in Germany they call a ‘Fremdkorper’ — an alien lost on the wrong planet.

The 1-0 win over Manchester City provided cause for both encouragement and concern. Havertz emerged from the bench to set up Gabriel Martinelli’s winner, undoubtedly his most important moment in an Arsenal shirt to date. It is also telling, however, that in Arsenal’s biggest…

A day after a historic disaster, there were still precious few answers.

Captain Alexandra Popp told reporters shortly before boarding a commercial flight home it would take a few more sleepless nights before anyone could get to grips with Germany’s worst-ever showing in a Women’s World Cup.

The German FA had been so certain of progress beyond the group stage that no charter plane had been booked to be on standby for Friday, the day after the team’s final group match. The governing body’s chairman, Bernd Neuendorf, hadn’t even set foot in Australia by the time Germany were eliminated. His plan had been to join the team as the tournament started in earnest with today’s arrival of the knockout phase.

Going out at the hands of Morocco, Colombia and South Korea had felt utterly inconceivable before the World Cup began, a one-in-a-million freak accident that didn’t warrant much worrying over, not even after the last-minute defeat by Colombia in the middle group game had ramped up the pressure. “Germany is not a nation that needs to tremble,” midfielder Lena Oberdorf had said after that 2-1 loss.

Such confidence proved misguided. The precise…

Put simply, it might be the biggest shock in Women’s World Cup history.

Germany were perhaps the side least likely to slip up in the group stage considering their squad and the nature of their opposition. Germany, remember, were the team who produced the biggest win of the opening round of fixtures, thrashing Morocco 6-0. After that result, it was highly unlikely they would be eliminated in the group stage and almost unthinkable that Morocco would progress at their expense.

But that’s what has happened. Germany, bizarrely, have a goal difference nine better than Morocco’s. That counts for nothing when they have two points less.

World Cup shocks on this scale tend to be about one-off results, but Germany have failed twice. They fell to an exciting but inexperienced Colombian side who combined physical pressure with technical brilliance to defeat them in Sydney last week. Now, against a South Korean team who had offered very little going forward in the competition, Germany started poorly — perhaps reeling from the Colombia defeat — and never got going in attack.

It was a bizarre way for Germany to exit, for many reasons. For a start, their opponents South Korea knew a draw would be completely useless for them and yet they defended their lone point in this competition with…

The 2023 Women’s World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand on July 20, with the U.S. hoping to navigate an expanded 32-team tournament to become the first country to win football’s biggest prize three times in a row.

They are the favourites, but will the four-time winners actually pull off the ‘three-peat’? What of England, European champions but decimated by injuries to key players as they attempt to win the tournament for the first time? Will Germany bounce back from losing the final of the Euros to lift the game’s biggest prize?

How will the likes of France, Spain and Canada perform after their preparations have been disrupted by disputes with their federations over the past few months?

And can we expect any surprises from any of the eight countries — Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Vietnam and Zambia — making their World Cup debuts?

Our expert writers give their verdicts on what they think will happen over the next five weeks.

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Flo Lloyd-Hughes, women’s football reporter

Winner: Germany. This is a very open tournament and there are four or five teams that have a good chance of winning the title. Germany are often the masters of their own downfall, but given their disappointment at the Euros last summer and their…

Let’s start with a few fun facts. 

Asisat Oshoala has been African women’s footballer of the year five times. She has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times. She has two Golden Boots and two Golden Balls at international tournaments: two each at AFCON and the Under-20 World Cup. 

She was the top scorer in Spain in 2021-22 and last season, notched a personal-best 21 goals for Barcelona — accompanied by three assists, which was comfortably more than her team-mates.

In 2019, she became the first African woman to score in a Champions League final. Two years later she became the first African woman to win a Champions League title. A year after that, she became the first African woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or. 

We could go on. There will certainly be better players at this World Cup, but there won’t be many as exciting to watch, or indeed many with a more interesting career story, than Oshoala. 

Born in Ikorodu, a coastal city about an hour’s drive from the Nigerian capital Lagos, Oshoala wasn’t exactly encouraged to pursue her sporting dreams as a child. Her parents would frequently not give her any food if she disobeyed them and went to play football, considering it a waste of time. They wanted her to become a lawyer instead. 

But when she was…

The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is fast approaching and, with domestic seasons now finished, players and fans alike are turning their attention to who will be representing their nations at the tournament.

European champions England announced their squad early, with Sarina Wiegman naming her 23 players at the end of May.

The USWNT, the reigning champions, are yet to reveal their roster, however, with Vlatko Andonovski taking his time before making any announcement. 

Other teams have released a provisional selection which will be cut down closer to the tournament. 

Teams must submit their final 23-player squads to FIFA by July 9. This article will be continuously updated as more countries finalise their squads.

GO DEEPER

Answering your questions about the 2023 Women’s World Cup

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Group A

New Zealand World Cup squad

Squad yet to be announced.

Norway World Cup squad

Squad yet to be announced.

Philippines World Cup squad (provisional)

Goalkeepers: Kiara Fontanilla (Westcliff University Warriors), Kaiya Jota (Stanford Cardinal), Olivia McDaniel, Inna Palacios (Kaya)

Defenders: Maya Alcantara (Georgetown University), Alicia Barker (Pacific Northwest SC), Angela Beard (Western United), Reina Bonta (Santos FC), Malea Cesar (Blacktown City), Jessika Cowart (IFK Kalmar), Sofia…

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is almost here. It is the ninth iteration of the tournament and the biggest yet as, for the first time, 32 teams will compete for the trophy.

That means a new format with more matches and more players, as well as some new rules that have not been in operation before.

Here’s a primer ahead of the biggest women’s football tournament in history.

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The basics

What is the Women’s World Cup?

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international tournament that pits the best national sides against one another every four years.

Where is it being held?

The tournament is being played in Australia and New Zealand.

It is the first Women’s World Cup to be hosted across two countries and the first World Cup (regardless of gender) to be hosted across two confederations — Australia are part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and New Zealand are part of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

When is it?

The first two games of the tournament — New Zealand vs Norway and Australia vs Republic of Ireland — will be played on July 20.

The group stage will conclude with the final two games in Group H a fortnight later on August 3.

The knockout stage will begin on…