Football Shirt Culture.com

Germany played a friendly match against Belgium on Wednesday wearing numbers 1 to 11 after the German FA mistakenly believed FIFA had changed its shirt number rules accordingly.

FIFA said Thursday the Germans have misinterpreted the rule, which was passed in July 2007. The FIFA rule book states that teams playing in qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup - and the tournament itself - should use the numbers 1-18 for its squad. 

Germany was lodging a protest against the rule, after interpreting it to mean that only numbers between one and 11 can be used for the starting lineup and that no names of players can be printed on the back of the shirts.

Speaking before the 2-0 win over Belgium, team manager Oliver Bierhoff said the German FA planned to appeal to FIFA against what it thought was a rule change. 

"It's a throwback to the 1970s, 1980s," Bierhoff told German television before the game. "We lodged a protest before this game but it was rejected.

"Our protests have already been turned down but we'll try again and hope other associations join us," said Bierhoff, adding that any change would harm fans and merchandising.

FIFA restated its regulations on team shirt numbers on Thursday:

"FIFA would like to put right the issue of shirt numbering for World Cup qualifying matches," the governing body said in response to several infuriated German newspaper columns.

"As at the World Cup finals, where players must wear the numbers one to 23, FIFA is also using a consecutive number system for the qualifying games with numbers (for squads) running from one to 18.

"In addition, we would like to point out that starting elevens are not obliged to wear the numbers one to 11."

FIFA said using names on shirts was voluntary for qualifying matches but had to be used at World Cup finals tournaments.

It added that none of the World Cup qualifying rules, introduced in July 2007 applied to friendlies -- meaning Germany were free to number their shirts how they wished from 1-18.