After Germany U21’s 1-1 draw against Israel in their opening game of the U21 European Championship, some U 21 national team players received racist insults on social media. Head coach Antonio Di Salvo and Joti Chatzialexiou, national team sporting director, spoke on the incident.
Antonio Di Salvo
I learned about the incidents in the mixed zone after the game. I was shocked and concerned. I thought Mouki (Youssoufa Moukoko) was right to publicly speak out. Nobody misses penalties on purpose. I know that the players were really looking forward to the game. There should be no discrimination of this kind under any circumstances. Online discrimination, hate speech and racism are disgusting and the lowest of the low. I myself have a migrant background and can sympathise with the players - even though I have to say that I have not been racially abused. Social media gives people the opportunity to do exactly that. It’s horrible. I think it’s going in the wrong direction, which I find very worrying.
Germany is a global country. We are all German, and every player is proud to play for Germany. People who say something like that anonymously are cowards. We have spoken to the affected players and the whole team. The team has shown a sign and said, “We're concentrating on football and we will not let ourselves be divided.” We stand with and behind our players, 1000%. Any opposition that comes from outside only brings us closer together. We also have a sports psychologist with us, Christoph Herr, who helps us with such issues.
After this press conference, we don't want to have to spend any more time on this issue. We want to concentrate on football. Yesterday’s performance was not brilliant, but it was good. We had a lot of the ball in the first half, but obviously we expected a better second half of ourselves, especially with a man advantage. It’s frustrating, but there were a number of positives, too, which is important. We still have everything in our own hands.
Joti Chatzialexiou
Toni and I are the best examples to show the diversity of our association. We are both people with a migration background who grew up in Germany. Our team reflects our society. It's a sign that football unites and brings many people together. A few weeks ago, we had a similar case with our U17s national team. We stand behind those affected. The team showed the same reaction then as our boys are showing now; they wanted to show a reaction on the pitch. That worked out excellently with the European Championship title.
We want to address this issue openly and therefore welcome the fact that Mouki has spoken out publicly. He was very emotional yesterday and he made an important statement. Unfortunately, this issue will not stop. I am shocked that players are discriminated against because of the colour of their skin or their background. That is very oppressive, especially when you hear that the boys grow up with it and have had to deal with it all their lives.
We will take criminal action against these people. We are trying everything possible as an association to bring these perpetrators to justice. It is important that something is done about online anonymity. We don't know if the charges will be successful, but we know that we have to take a stand against these people.