Football: Germany player Mario Goetze commits another clothing blunder

Football: Germany player Mario Goetze commits another clothing blunder

BERLIN - Bayern Munich star Mario Goetze has landed himself in hot water again for wearing Nike products, this time on duty with Germany who are sponsored by rival firm adidas.

The 21-year-old is in trouble for wearing socks with the Nike logo plastered over his shins while with the Germany squad who play the Republic of Ireland today in a World Cup qualifier in Cologne.

"Things like that shouldn't happen," said Germany's team manager Oliver Bierhoff as sponsor adidas pumps several million euros into the German Football Federation (DFB) each year.

"The players are allowed to wear whatever boots they want but, otherwise, we are committed to our partners, of course."

Goetze, who has a personal sponsorship deal with Nike, admitted he had blundered but insisted that it was an innocent mistake.

"They are compression socks that I have worn for some time because of my injury," he told German daily Bild, having just returned from a groin injury.

"I didn't think about it, I didn't want to provoke anyone or advertise something.

"This sort of thing won't happen again by me."

This is not the first time Goetze has got into trouble with adidas.

In July, he was fined 20,000 euros (S$34,000) by his club Bayern Munich, who are also sponsored by adidas.

He had worn a Nike T-shirt, with a big logo across his chest, at his first press conference at the European giants.

After his latest faux pas, an adidas spokesman said the company had assumed "something like this will not happen again" and added that the matter had been dealt with internally by the DFB.

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