The Mannschaft is not a Nickname

By: Jan | June 7th, 2007

At least as far as Germans are concerned. As sad and boring as it might be, we actually haven’t been able to come up with a nickname for our team. The word Mannschaft just means team and is too generic to be used to refer to the national team alone. Although saying national team (Nationalmannschaft) will be enough to suggest that you are talking about the mens national football team instead of eg. the womens U16 national hockey team. But that still doesn’t make it a nickname. I guess that by now this word has established itself among the Les Bleus, Azzurris and Three Lions of the English speaking football world (probably elsewhere as well). So it will probably continue to stand as is. But I felt like clearing that up once anyway.

Category: Backstory, National Team

Tags: Backstory, Die Mannschaft, National Team, nickname, The Mannschaft, urban legend

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• Ian |  June 7th, 2007 at 8:57 am

  
  
  

  Count your blessings. Regardless of what it means in the native tongue, in English, Mannschaft is the best nickname for any team on Earth. Ever.

  Posted from United States

  

• Jan |  June 7th, 2007 at 9:42 am

  
  
  

  And that’s because English people would tend to pronounce it “man shaft”? I’d be curious what nick the women’s team gets then.

  Posted from Germany

  

• Fernando Arteaga |  June 8th, 2007 at 1:19 pm

  
  
  

  Its just like the name the spanish league gets : La Liga (Wich in spanish means just “The League”)

  Posted from United States

  

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