The journalist André Voigt sat with his family in the fan block, as the German national team played against Serbia on Wednesday (1-1) - and suddenly three spectators racially insulted the DFB players Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gündogan. Voigt told about this incident in a video he posted on Facebook.
He is close to tears in the almost four-minute long post, again and again the voice fails, he has to break off. "You're sitting there with your two-year-old daughter, and are you thinking, where's that going?" He says. The video counts over 150,000 views and has been shared thousands of times on social networks.
That should have happened: Three alcoholic men who sat near the journalist, the Manchester City player Sané have repeatedly insulted as a "Negro". Team-mate Gündogan was also described as "the Turk" and "pseudo-Turkish" was spoken when the 28-year-old was on the ball. The attacks themselves can not be seen in the video, this was only recorded after the game.
In his Facebook video Voigt reports, among other things, that he put the men in the second half to the speech. "The increasing alcohol level has made it worse," says Vogt. From other viewers, he had received no support. A seat neighbor is said to have even reaffirmed the men. Just before he breaks off the video, he appeals for more civil courage: "If you experience something, says something." (Racism in the fan-curve - what you can do as a football fan against it, read more about it here.)
DFB wants to investigate incident
The German Football Association (DFB) has since contacted Voigt. "We will exploit all the opportunities we have to tackle this," said national team spokesman Jens Grittner. "We are in close contact with the competent authorities."
The DFB has reported the facts to the police and is currently waiting for feedback from the order service from the stadium. In a Twitter post, the DFB team distanced itself from racism in the afternoon.
For diversity - against discrimination. Not only today. Always! # Day Against Racism #NoToRacism #The team pic.twitter.com/pr1Fj2x9Wr
- The Crew (@DFB_Team) March 21, 2019Voigt is editor-in-chief of the basketball magazine "Five Magazin". In the past he had also written for SPIEGEL ONLINE. In the Wolfsburg Arena Voigt was private. In conversation with SPIEGEL ONLINE he expresses himself to the experiences - here you see the video:
facebook.com/DreVoigt/