FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Replica World Cup shirts of several German players were temporarily unavailable due to a shortage of the letter “V” following high demand from fans, Adidas said Wednesday.

The sportswear giant, which supplies kits for the German team, said supporters flocking to snap up shirts of Kai Havertz, Deniz Undav and Aleksandar Pavlovic had drained supplies of the letter.

“There were short-term shortages in the availability of the letter V,” a spokesman told AFP.

But he added that “these were quickly resolved” and that football tops with the “letter ‘V’ will soon be available to order online again”.

Earlier Wednesday, an attempt to buy a Havertz shirt on Adidas’s online store was unsuccessful, and produced the message: “Sorry, we’re currently out of stock of the following characters: V.”

But they were available again later in the day, at a cost of 170 euros (US$198).

Adidas supplies kits for 14 of the 48 teams competing at this year’s World Cup, and makes huge profits from selling merchandise related to the tournament.

But the German national team is dropping Adidas as its kit supplier from 2027, ending a partnership that spanned more than 70 years and four World Cup triumphs, and switching to United States sportswear giant Nike.