Enlarge image

U17 national coach Christian Wück (picture from March 2022)

Photo: Rene Weiss / dpa

Selection coach Christian Wück has condemned the racist insults against some of his U17 internationals. "Unfortunately, it's a trend that I think can no longer be stopped, especially on the Internet," said the coach on the podcast "kicker Daily". We have to think about our country, Germany and society," said Wück.

Under a picture of Charles Herrmann, Almugera Kabar, Paris Brunner (all Borussia Dortmund) and Fayssal Harchaoui (1. FC Köln), some users of the social network Facebook had published hate comments, many of them referring to the skin color of the players. The picture of the four footballers was taken after the 3-2 victory against the USA in the round of 17 of the U<> World Cup.

"I don't have a solution and I don't know how to react, how to bring people to their senses," said the coach. He feels "simply sorry for the players because they are already preoccupied with such topics at a young age".

Former Germany international Jérôme Boateng was also appalled by the insults hurled by the young players. »Young German national team players who are racially insulted after winning the World Cup for Germany? In 2023? Are you serious? When is this ever going to stop...!?," the former world champion wrote on Platform X on Thursday.

DFB reserves the right to take legal action

The German Football Association had already reacted earlier. "We are proud of the diversity in our U17s, who are currently leaving their hearts on the pitch in Indonesia. The commitment to diversity is firmly anchored in the DFB statutes – as are the values of tolerance and respect," the association wrote on the official Facebook page of the DFB juniors on Wednesday and deactivated the comment function.

"If you don't share these values, feel free to unfollow us. Discriminatory and racist comments have no place here and will be deleted accordingly. We will take legal action against offensive content," the statement continues.

In football, racist insults against players occur again and again. The U17 juniors have known this since the European Championships, Wück said in the podcast. Most recently, the two national team players Youssoufa Moukoko and Jessic Ngankam were also racially attacked on the Internet in the course of the U21 European Championship. "If we win, we'll all be Germans. When we lose, these monkey comments come. Jessic got it, I got it. Things like that just don't belong in football," said 19-year-old BVB player Moukoko.

The German U17 national team is now looking forward to the quarter-finals against Spain in Jakarta on Friday (9.30 a.m.). A possible semi-final would be played on Tuesday. "I think we're well prepared for the game," Wück said on Sky on Thursday afternoon. All players in the current squad are fit for the Spain clash.

ngo/dpa