Germany’s 4 Stars on Jersey Explained

germany four stars

Getty Germany added a fourth star to their jerseys after the 2014 World Cup.

Why does Germany have four stars on their jersey? There is a tradition in soccer that every time you win a title, a star goes on the jersey. Germany has won four World Cups, which is why you see four stars on their jerseys.

When you are watching the World Cup, the majority of teams that have stars on their jersey indicate the number of World Cup trophies the country has, but there are rare exceptions. Uruguay has four stars, and two of these are for Olympic wins. The Sun details the star system.

If a country has a star on the kit, it usually signifies that they have won a World Cup. However if you see a country that has a star and they haven’t won the world’s most prestigious tournament, they would have either won the African Cup of Nations, the Olympics (Uruguay have four – having won the World Cup and Olympics twice) or the Asian Cup.

Germany won the World Cup in 2014, 1990, 1974 and 1954. Their last victory in Brazil was the first World Cup as a unified country. Germany is riding a recent hot streak with a win in the last World Cup, two third-place finishes along with a runners-up trophy in their last four World Cups. World Soccer Talk argues that Germany should only have three stars as their first World Cup win against Hungary came with a bit of controversy.

By the time the final arrived on an overcast Sunday on July 4 1954, Puskas was an injury concern, having suffered a hairline fracture in his foot in the group stage match against the Germans. The Mighty Magyars, as the Hungarians were known at the time, couldn’t risk leaving out their star player and coach Gustav Sebes insisted on playing him. The decision paid off as he scored the first goal, which was soon followed by a second by Zoltan Czibor, and the Hungarians were up 2-0 before ten minutes were even played. Hungary, the favorites to win the tournament, already had one foot on the winner’s dais with 82 minutes to play.

As the game would unfold, the Germans scored two quick goals soon after to equalize by the 18th minute, before scoring the winner six minutes from time. Puskas scored what appeared to be a late equalizer, but it was ruled out for offside. Due to poor television replay technology at the time, no real decision could be deduced about whether it really was offside or not. The score at full-time ended up 3-2, and the Germans would lift their first ever World Cup trophy.

Germany is just one star shy of Brazil, who has the most World Cup wins at five. Here’s a look at the list of World Cup winners courtesy of Sports Illustrated.


World Cup Winners List

YEAR COUNTRY
2014 Germany
2010 Spain
2006 Italy
2002 Brazil
1998 France
1994 Brazil
1990 West Germany
1986 Argentina
1982 Italy
1978 Argentina
1974 West Germany
1970 Brazil
1966 England
1962 Brazil
1958 Brazil
1954 West Germany
1950 Uruguay
1938 Italy
1934 Italy
1930 Uruguay