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Berlin (dpa) - Bundesliga soccer team Hertha BSC has released goalkeeping coach Zsolt Petry with immediate effect after his homophobic and anti-migration statements.
As the Berliners announced, the club's management decided to do so after Petry had given the Hungarian government-affiliated daily «Magyar Nemzet» an interview that those responsible were not previously aware of.
In the published conversation, Petry also made questionable statements on the subject of immigration and criticized the work of the Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi from RB Leipzig for an association that supports gay marriage, among other things.
The statements made would "overall not correspond to the values of Hertha BSC," said Carsten Schmidt, CEO of Hertha.
Petry defended himself in a statement: «I would like to emphasize that I am neither homophobic nor xenophobic.
I very much regret my statement on immigration policy and would like to apologize to all the people who seek refuge with us and whom I have offended. "
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He had previously told the Hungarian newspaper that he did not understand what made his compatriot Gulacsi "stand up for homosexuals, transvestites and people of other gender identities".
The 54-year-old, who has worked for the Berliners since 2015, takes a conservative approach himself.
Even when it comes to migration.
«I don't understand how Europe could sink as morally as it is now.
(...) Europe is a Christian continent, I don't like to see the moral decline that is sweeping the continent down, "said Petry:" The liberals inflate the opposing views: If you don't like migration, because an awful lot of criminals have Europe overrun - then they will immediately accuse you of being a racist. "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210406-99-100660 / 2
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Squad Hertha BSC
Report on Petry (Hungarian)
Communication from Hertha