Association wants to investigate suspected cases
Nazi codes on Berlin football shirts?
November 28, 2025 – 6:14 a.mReading time: 1 min.
After the failed vote to ban the number 88, the Berlin Football Association receives new evidence of Nazi codes – and wants to act.
The Berlin Football Association (BFV) wants to investigate indications that players in the capital may deliberately wear the number 88 as a Nazi symbol. “I was secretly told that there are already players at some clubs, especially in the senior level, who may wear the number 88 as a confession of Nazi ideology,” said Vice President Özgür Özvatan to the “Tagesspiegel”. “We’ll have to check that.” In right-wing extremist circles, the number 88 stands for “Heil Hitler”.
The information reached Özvatan after a failed vote: his request to ban the jersey number in Berlin football was narrowly rejected last Saturday with 48 votes to 52. During the debate, no one who knew of players with this number had come forward.
The discussion escalated into a “kind of culture war debate,” said Özvatan. Club representatives asked whether the next number would be banned – also a typical code for the scene. “I’m sure quite a few clubs simply wanted to get one over on the board.”
Without a ban, the BFV now has no recourse against the use of the number. In other regional associations, the 88 is already prohibited on jerseys.