The German Football Federation (DFB) has apologised for delivery delays of national team shirts to fans, speaking of huge demand and supply bottlenecks. The DFB said that the issue concerned personalised shirts for which there were not enough numbers and letters available. The DFB said the issue has been solved and no further flocking problems are expected. Demand for the shirts was three times higher than originally anticipated by the fan shop selling the shirts, the DFB said. The projected numbers were based on sales around previous big tournaments. The news comes after Thursday's start of the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Germany's first match is on Sunday against debutants Curacao. German interest in the tournament opener between Mexico and South Africa was big, with 10.038 million watching the ZDF network broadcast for a market share of 46.5 per cent. That was considerably more than the opener 2022 between hosts Qatar and Ecuador (6.209 million, 28.2 per cent) and similar to the 2018 start between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia (10.01 million, 52 per cent). However, none of the games reached the figures of the opening match of Euro 2024, where 22.49 million fans watched Germany beat Scotland for a share of 69 per cent. FDF meanwhile also drew some criticism on social media for tuning in late the opening ceremony which preceded the game in Maxico City. The network was airing commercials when the first artists took to the stage but was on air in time for the official tournament song performed by Shakira and Burna Boy. ZDF apologised but also said that part of its income came from advertisements.
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