Soccer racism against U21 players
“We’ve been talking about hate and hate speech for years, but nobody does anything”
Status: 24.06.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
“Shocked and Disappointed” – Racial abuse directed at Moukoko and Ngankam
After the German U21 national team’s 1-1 draw against Israel at the start of the European Championship, there were racist insults against Youssoufa Moukoko and Jessic Ngankam on Instagram. Coach Antonio Di Salvo reacted “shocked” to the hate on the net.
Because two young German internationals missed penalties at the U21 European Championship, they became targets for racists. At the DFB they react very clearly and also demand political help against the hateful people.
After the racist insults against the German U21 internationals Youssoufa Moukoko and Jessic Ngankam, DFB Vice President Ronny Zimmermann called for more decisive political action. “At the end of the day, politicians in Germany have to react if they want to protect people – and I’m not just talking about footballers,” said Zimmermann in the U21 European Championship quarters in Batumi. “We’ve been talking about hate and hate speech and the brutalization of language culture for years, but nobody does anything about it.” Racism and hate speech must be punished consistently.
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After the 1-1 draw at the start of the European Championship against Israel, Moukoko made public insults against himself and Ngankam on social networks. The two strikers each missed a penalty in the game and thus missed the best chance of victory.
There are always similar cases in the German Football Association, most recently the U17 national team was affected. So far, such comments have been consistently deleted, reported Zimmermann. “But given how often it’s happened now, you have to ask yourself: is deleting enough or do you have to do something else?”
“We also help sport, we help society”
The DFB declared on Friday that it wanted to take criminal action against the authors of the hate comments. “It is enough. It must not be the case that people on the Internet try to position themselves anonymously in this way and insult people. As an association, we will do everything possible to hold these people accountable,” said Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of the national teams at the DFB. Zimmermann also announced that the association would also contact the operators of the networks with the demand that the corresponding accounts be deleted: “The operator then has to find solutions.”
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Vice-President Peter Frymuth stated that the DFB would take consistent action against any form of hate speech online in the future. “We don’t even want to weigh up what it will bring. The important thing is that we do it,” he said in Batumi, Georgia. When the DFB reaches its limits, politics is required. “I think we’re not just helping football, we’re also helping sport and we’re helping society,” said Frymuth. He hopes that many people will “stand by our side” in the fight against racism.
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