VfL Wolfsburg has apologized for "unacceptable misconduct" by some team members on the train journey to the away game at Bayer Leverkusen.
Individual players of the Bundesliga soccer club can be seen on a video from Sportschau how they drove on Friday without mouth and nose protection despite the fact that masks are still mandatory.
In addition, they are said to have made fun of the rules.
"On behalf of the entire team, VfL Wolfsburg apologizes emphatically for the unprofessional and inappropriate behavior of its players and especially for the staff of Deutsche Bahn for their disrespectful behavior, which has never happened before and also does not correspond to the usual behavior of the team teams, is in no way compatible with the values of VfL Wolfsburg, is not tolerated and must not happen again," wrote Lower Saxony in a statement on Saturday before the game against Bayer Leverkusen (3:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and at Sky).
A WDR employee, who happened to be a passenger in the same ICE, documented the misconduct of some VfL professionals in the sports show report.
The reporter saw how several actors should have reacted to the train attendant's repeated hints with loud laughter.
A train attendant told the WDR accordingly: "I do not find the behavior of the players respectful."
VfL head coach Niko Kovac clearly addressed the misconduct in front of the assembled team on Friday immediately after arriving at the team hotel, it said.
A "detailed review" of the incident should take place after returning from Leverkusen.