Bayern Does Not Want Players Wearing Nike With National Team

German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich has “threatened to prevent its players” from playing for the German National soccer team, as Nike is “pulling out all the stops to replace” adidas as the national team’s sponsor, according to AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE. adidas is a shareholder in Bayern, and it “would be seen as a betrayal” for club players to wear Nike on their shirts. Bayern President Karl-Heinz Rummenigge: “I just cannot imagine that a Bayern player would wear a German shirt with the Nike logo on it.” But German National Team GM Oliver Bierhoff said, “The rules stipulate that players must conform to the choice of sporting equipment made by the federation.” He added that if Bayern “stood in the way of its players turning out for Germany, he would take the matter before” FIFA. adidas’ contract with the national team runs through 2011 (AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, 1/25).