What exactly happened on the weekend?
In the German Cup match between second-division side Schalke and fourth-tier club Lokomotiv Leipzig, Black Schalke player Christopher Antwi-Adjei delayed a throw-in to tell first the assistant referee, then the head referee, that he had been called the N-word by someone in the stands. The referee temporarily halted the contest as a result. After it resumed, Antwi-Adjei was booed by Leipzig fans every time he touched the ball.
The fans’ reaction to an incident during a cup match in Potsdam, near Berlin, was different. After a player from the visiting team, Kaiserslautern, was racially abused, other spectators helped identify three perpetrators. Both sets of fans chanted “Nazis out!” in unison. There were also racist attacks via social media against Germany player Nadiem Amiri and his teammate, Arnaud Nordin, of Mainz, as well as Kelsey Owusu of Rot-Weiss Essen.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino described the incidents as “unacceptable” and “horrific” and demanded that the events be thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators punished.
Is it unusual for Infantino to speak out?
No, the FIFA boss has declared the fight against racism in football to be one of his organization’s top priorities. Infantino also spoke out about recent incidents of racism in England, Spain and Italy.
“Fines for clubs, point deductions for teams, and stadium bans for fans are all we can do,” Infantino said at a United Nations event in Vienna last May.
What has been the reaction from the DFB?
Through its control committee, the German Football Association (DFB) has launched an investigation into the incidents. If it finds evidence of any violation of its statutes, the matter will be forwarded to the DFB’s sports court.
“Racism and discrimination, hatred and exclusion have no place in football. We stand for diversity and respect,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf in a statement. He also pointed to the DFB’s many initiatives meant to combat racism and discrimination.
What is the procedure in the event of a racist incident during a match?
FIFA has adopted a three-step procedure to deal with any racist incident that occurs during a match. Step 1 is to halt the match and inform the spectators of the reason for doing this via the stadium’s PA system. Step 2 is to suspend the match if the incident doesn’t cease. The players are then sent to their dressing rooms. Step 3 is to abandon the match entirely, if the incident continues after a restart.
In December 2021, the third-division game between Duisburg and Osnabrück became the first professional match in Germany to be abandoned due to a racist incident. There have also been racist incidents in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, but so far, none has resulted in a match being abandoned.
How often are footballers subjected to racist abuse in Germany?
It’s difficult to say exactly, because not all cases are reported. Another problem is that statistics often lump together incidents of racism and other forms of discrimination, such as sexism or LGBTQ+ insults, rather than dealing with them separately.
The DFB last published a report on German amateur football about a year ago. According to the report, in the 2023-24 season, around 900 of the approximately 1.5 million amateur matches played were abandoned due to violence and/or cases of discrimination – or 0.07% of all matches. In total, referees reported incidents of discrimination in around 2,500 matches or 0.2% of all matches. According to the DFB, these numbers are on the decline.
An analysis by the “Reporting Office for Discrimination in Football in North Rhine-Westphalia,” Germany’s most populous state, revealed a more differentiated picture. In 2023, it received a total of 762 anonymous reports from those affected regarding various forms of discrimination, more than half of which involved professional matches.
Of these, 46% (around 350) related to sexism and 29% (220) to racism. The organization points to a potentially high number of unreported cases.
What do fan groups say?
Many fan clubs and organizations have long been committed to combating racism and xenophobia, often in cooperation with the DFB and the clubs.
According to Jost Peter, chairman of the fan alliance “Unsere Kurve,” cases like those that occurred during the first round of the German Cup can never be completely ruled out.
“It is certainly worrying that it keeps happening in football – and not to the same extent in other sports,” he said.
This article was originally published in German.
