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It's official - Germany named 'Die Mannschaft'

Germany's head coach Joachim Loew (C) and members of Germany's 2014 Brazil World Cup squad applaud fans during celebrations to mark the team's victory, at a 'fan mile' public viewing zone in Berlin July 15, 2014. REUTERS/Thomas Peter (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany on Monday launched their new logo, including the use of term 'die Mannschaft', in an effort to increase international branding of the hugely popular World Cup winners. Known in many countries by this term, meaning 'team' in German, the country wants to reinforce it with a reference on their equipment and a new logo which includes a fourth star for their fourth World Cup win last year. "There were many names but none that expressed as well all the things the team stands for," team manager Oliver Bierhoff told reporters. "Creativity, strength, respect, fair play as well as unity and solidarity." He said while other countries had long branded their national teams with names used by fans throughout the world, like Italy's Azzurri, Brazil's Selecao and France's Les Bleus, Germany had not done so until now. The German federation also used the term as the title of its official World Cup movie released last year. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)