Weston McKennie, Jadon Sancho, Achraf Hakimi and Marcus Thuram should fear punishment for expressing their support for George Floyd. The German Football Association (DFB) reports Monday to initiate an investigation into the statements.
The four players paid tribute to Floyd during games in the Bundesliga last weekend. The 46-year-old unarmed black man died in Minneapolis a week ago after brutal police action.
For example, the Borussia Dortmund duo Sancho and Hakimi showed a shirt with the text ‘Justice for George’ and Schalke 04 midfielder McKennie wore a special band around his arm. Marcus Thuram knelt after scoring for Borussia Mönchengladbach, the gesture that NFL star Colin Kaepernick introduced in 2016.
The expressions earned the quartet high praise, but the DFB is of the opinion that McKennie, Sancho and Hakimi in particular have broken the rule about political statements on their equipment. The disciplinary committee will now investigate whether a penalty is appropriate.
“We have yet to determine whether a match and a football field are the right place for these actions,” said Vice President Rainer Koch on the DFB website. “Internationally, football matches should remain free from political statements or other texts of any kind. It remains to be seen whether we will have penalties in these cases.”
Research DFB is critical
The initiation of the investigation also provokes criticism. For example, Oliver Ruhnert, sporting director of Union Berlin, has already taken a clear position, while the investigation has yet to start.
“If the committee is going to institute prosecution, one has to ask whether we still have the same values. This is a global theme: a no to racism,” says Ruhnert.
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