Abuse of black German footballers shows rampant racism DW 6/26/2023

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“When we win, we are all Germans. If we lose, then we are the Blacks, then the monkey comments come out,” said Germany striker Youssoufa Moukoko, a member of the national team.

Cameroon-born Moukoko and Cameroonian-born teammate Jessic Ngankam both missed penalties for a 1-1 draw with Israel in the European Under-18 Championship group stage. 21 years old last Thursday.

Moukoko, 18, said after the game they were inundated with racist comments on social media, including monkey emojis.

“Things like that just don’t belong in football. It’s disgusting,” said the Borussia Dortmund player. “This time it hurts. No player misses a penalty on purpose.”

The two have since seen an outpouring of support on social media.

On Saturday, Ngankam posted his thanks on Instagram for the many encouraging comments, adding, “Sad that in 2023 there are still ‘people’ hiding behind anonymous accounts to make racial curses.

Jessic Ngankam was the target of racial abuse after missing a penalty for Germany in the UEFA European U21 Cup game against Israel Image: Meusel/Beautiful Sports/Imago’You disgust us’

The German Football Association (DFB) was quick to react, tweeting in English and German: “To those of you who have made discriminatory, insulting and inhumane remarks towards several of our players following the U21 match of ‘ last night we say: you disgust us. “

German Under-21 coach Antonio di Salvo also spoke out, saying he was “shocked and disappointed” at the racism towards the boys, “who like to play for Germany, who are German and who give everything for their country and themselves”. “

The words of support stand in stark contrast to Ngankam’s club and manager’s actions in 2019 after Ngankam, then playing for Under-23 side Hertha, was subjected to monkey chants by fans of the opposing team.

The club took days to issue a statement, while Hertha Under-23 coach Andreas Neuendorf appeared to come to terms with the incident.

“Some say idiot, some say donkey, some say monkey,” Neuendorf said after the game. “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be racist.”

Racism researcher Lorenz Narku Laing said he was “very happy” to see coach di Salvo and the DFB speaking out against racist abuse and “making it visible that it is wrong”.

“That has been lacking in recent years. And I hope they will continue,” said Laing, a professor at the Protestant German University of Applied Sciences in Bochum and a member of the federal government’s Commission on Combating Racism.

The endemic scourge of racism

While the German Bundesliga as well as other football clubs and associations may react stronger and faster to racist abuse now that the incidents show no signs of slowing down.

In the same week that Moukoko and Ngankam were abused, defender Yann-Aurel Bisseck, who has dual German-Cameroonian nationality, was massively insulted on Facebook after his appointment as captain of the German national under-21 team last Tuesday.

Germany’s Under-17 side, who won the European Championships, also battled racial abuse earlier in the month, with the DFB reporting “a heavy build-up of racist comments on social media”.

German national player Benjamin Henrichs, who has a Ghanaian mother, even went so far as to share direct messages on social media in which he and his family were subjected to racist and derogatory slurs.

“We live in a society where anyone can spread hatred and racism on the net,” the RB Leipzig player wrote on TikTok in April.

In a 2022 article on racism in German football, US-based German academic Arne Koch listed many other incidents dating back decades.

Ahead of the 2006 World Cup, for example, the far-right Democratic National Party printed a pamphlet targeting Nigerian-born national Patrick Owomoleya. The brochure featured Owomoleya’s number 25 shirt number with the slogans: “White. Not just a football shirt color. For a real national team.”

Speaking as a witness in a court case over the pamphlet, Owomoleya said he felt “hurt” and “offended”.

Erwin Kostedde, the first black footballer to represent Germany, believes that nearly 50 years after first donning the national jersey in 1974, black players are still not on equal footing with their white colleagues.

“It’s great to see so many black Germans playing, but they will always be second choice here in Germany, and look what happens once they make a mistake,” he told DW in an interview in 2021.

In 1974, Erwin Kostedde became Germany’s first black national team player Image: Sven Simon/picture-alliance

The effects of racism are often ignored by those not directly affected. A 2021 study found that almost half of Germans completely, mostly or partially agreed that “black people are too sensitive when it comes to racism in Germany”.

This means tackling racism means breaking down structural barriers and bringing more people “with experience of racism” to higher levels within football associations, Laing said.

Germany’s professional football teams and national teams are generally multicultural, which those who run the clubs lack. A recent report revealed that around 96% of coaches, managers and scouts in German football are white.

Moreover, according to Laing, associations need to crack down much more on clubs with racist supporters.

“If a game has to be stopped because of a racist incident, the other team should win because racism shouldn’t be an advantage, shouldn’t be a handy tool to distract those footballers from their jobs.”

Antonio Rdiger (2nd from right), seen playing in a Germany-Poland friendly earlier this month, talks about his experiences of racism Image: Christian Charisius/dpa/picture alliance

But as Antonio Rdiger, German national player and Real Madrid defender, wrote in a 2021 article on racism published on The Players’ Tribune website: “even we, as footballers, are part of this system” .

“How often do we have these kind of deep conversations [about racist abuse] in the locker room? Not so often, to be honest. So what do we do instead? We post some captions on Instagram. ‘Kick Racism Out!!!!'” wrote Rdiger, who has Sierra Leonean roots.

“Post, post, post. Feeling like we’ve done something. And yet, we haven’t done anything. Nothing changes. It’s not my job to find out why it’s like this. But I know how it tastes.”

“Bitter.”

Sportswriters Kres Harrington and Jonathan Harding contributed to this article.

Edited by: Keith Walker

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