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It was 1974, two days before Christmas.

The German national team made a guest appearance in Gzira, Malta, when Erwin Kostedde played his first international match in the European Championship qualification - as the first black player in the German national soccer team to win 1-0 with a goal from Bernd Cullmann.

Kostedde, who only made three appearances for Germany, played the full distance that day.

What he experienced as a dark-skinned player in football in Germany, Erwin Kostedde would not want to do again.

“Maybe it's gotten easier, I don't know,” said the 74-year-old to the “Tagesspiegel”: “You hear other things too.

I do not understand that.

To me, a white person is a white person and a black person is a black person.

I don't prefer some of them and neither do the others. "

During his career, Kostedde played for Kickers Offenbach, Hertha BSC and Borussia Dortmund, among others.

“Maybe the burden was too great,” he said in the interview: “Even before the first game in Malta, I got letters from people of color in Germany.

How proud they are of me. "In the second game at London's Wembley Stadium in front of a hundred thousand spectators, he was over-motivated and with the thoughts everywhere," just not on the pitch.

I played like Santa Claus ”.

From April 15, the documentary "Black Eagles" will be running on Amazon Prime, which deals with the subject of racism in German football - Erwin Kostedde is involved

Source: pa / dpa / BROADVIEW P / -

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The then national coach Helmut Schön had also told him that he should answer no when he was asked by newspapers whether there was racism in Germany, confirmed Kostedde.

He contradicted a little.

"I don't want to pose as particularly brave, but I've already thought that if you have to keep quiet about how it really is in Germany, then you do without", reported Kostedde.

“I noticed at a young age that people would stop on the street and point their fingers at me.

In the summer I often didn't dare go into the sun because I was getting blacker and black, ”he said, looking back.

“I scrubbed myself with curd soap to get the paint off.

I also tried washing powder, wiping it wet on my arms and face.

So I went to sleep.

The next morning the skin was porous and damaged.

These are things that can hardly be told. "

According to Kostedde, football was his only chance.