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Football and politics are hard to separate. There were a number of nationalistic outbursts in the preliminary round of the European Championship. How big is the problem and what are politicians and associations doing about it?
Berlin – In the group phase of the European Football Championship There were some nationalist and right-wing extremist incidents by German and foreign fans. There were also minor clashes between hooligan groups. Right-wing extremists are trying to use the European Championship as a stage. On the whole, politicians from the government and opposition as well as Fan social worker opposite fr.de by IPPEN.MEDIA agreed, but these attempts have largely failed so far. But UEFA could take tougher action. An interim domestic political conclusion from the European Championship preliminary round.
Inseparable even during the European Championship: football and politics
Football is almost never apolitical. Clubs’ fan scenes can often be clearly assigned to political camps, and men in the stands with a propensity for violence feed certain authoritarian patterns. Across Europe, the extreme right has been using football stadiums as a recruiting ground for decades. At the same time, football breaks down barriers between people who would never have anything to do with each other outside of the stands and can thus have an inclusive effect. This balancing act between outbreaks of violence, fascist symbolism and nationalist chants on the one handand peacefully celebrating fans and a football festival of international understanding on the other. The ongoing shift to the right in Europe is also reflected in the images of the European Championship.
Neo-Nazi slogans and Hitler salutes during European Championship public viewing – various nationalist outbursts by visiting fans
Among German fans, the appropriation of the disco classic “L’Amour Toujours” by Gigi D’Agostino by the neo-Nazi slogan “Germany for the Germans” continued at the start of the European Championship, reported t-online. In addition, some Hitler salutes were shown and anti-Semitic and National Socialist slogans were shouted around public viewing events. Fans from Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Albania and Turkey displayed nationalist symbols or propagated nationalism in chants. The publicist Ruben Gerczikow collected these incidents on X. There were also at least two physical confrontations between fan groups. In addition, there are only a few outbreaks of violence during the European Championships on relevant social media channels for the scene.
SPD interior politician Özdemir praises police work at the European Championship
However, the conclusion of the group phase among interior and sports politicians is quite positive. Mahmut Özdemir (SPD), Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior, emphasised fr.de-Inquiry that the police have so far prevented clashes between fan groups or attacks on innocent bystanders “in the absolute majority of cases”. Nevertheless, according to Özdemir, there is an abstract threat to public safety around the European Championships. The Interior Ministry has repeatedly stressed the danger of Islamist attacks.
Özdemir added that right-wing extremists would also try to use the European Championships “for their own purposes”. The security authorities had therefore prepared themselves and pooled their expertise in the International Police Cooperation Center in Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia. FDP interior politician Stephan Thomae also assessed the threat posed by “hooligans, right-wing extremists, but also by Islamist terror” as “very real”.
Contribution to the “welcoming culture” at the European Championships: SPD politician praises fan project work
Stephan Mayer (CSU), sports policy spokesman for the Union faction, underlined Islamist-motivated terrorism as the “greatest threat to the security of the European Championship” at fr.de-Inquiry about conspicuous right-wing extremists, hooligans and nationalists. The security authorities have done a “good job” so far.
To prevent violence, SPD member Özdemir praised the work of the Fan Project Coordination Office (KOS), which organizes a fan support program for supporters of all national teams, sponsored by the Interior Ministry. This contributes to a “welcoming culture” and ultimately to security, said Özdemir.
Fan social worker welcomes encounters on equal terms and without “highly armed police”
The KOS has been headed by Michael Gabriel since 2006. The atmosphere in the stadiums was “very relaxed” at most games, said Gabriel in an interview with our editorial team. It is not surprising that right-wing groups are trying to use the stage of the European Championship. In order to counteract this, the “welcoming culture” mentioned by Özdemir is so important in order to be able to react to it in a differentiated manner. Welcoming culture consists above all of meeting peaceful fans as equals and not receiving them with “highly armed police”, said Gabriel.
“An overall organization that welcomes fans as guests and takes care of their needs prevents solidarity effects with right-wing extremists or violent criminals,” stressed Gabriel. This makes it possible, for example, for a large proportion of fans to remain accessible to security forces in emergencies because they are not perceived as opponents.
Without fan separation: So far only one confrontation between fans in the stadium during the European Championship
Nevertheless, there are situations, such as the confrontation between Serbian and English fans in Gelsenkirchen, which was ended by the police, in which there is “no room for pedagogy,” said Gabriel. This interplay of communication and dialogue on the one hand and clear action on the other has worked well at the European Championships so far. Another positive aspect is that despite the lack of separation of the fan camps, there have been no confrontations in a stadium so far, with one exception at the match between Georgia and Turkey.
Extreme right-wingers “largely pushed out” from the DFB team’s supporters
Gabriel also had words of praise for the DFB and the German club fan scenes, thanks to which the extreme right has been “largely pushed out” from the DFB team’s supporters and from club football: The DFB’s “clear socio-political positioning” has made the national team unattractive for right-wing extremists. Separately, the Ultra movement has replaced the hooligans as the dominant fan culture in the stadiums since the 1990s. For decades, some Ultra groups have repeatedly brought actions against right-wing extremism to the stadiums.
All in all, there have been no right-wing extremist incidents in the stadiums at German team games, Gabriel concluded. He is looking forward to the rest of the tournament in a “very relaxed” manner.
Former BVB fan representative demands clear statements against nationalism from UEFA
Daniel Lörcher, former fan representative of Borussia Dortmundin conversation with the football magazine 11Friends, clear demands to the European football association UEFA: “Clear statements” from the associations against nationalism, discrimination and right-wing extremism are needed. The rules already allow for the game to be stopped if there is discrimination from the stands. So far, UEFA has only imposed a few fines. (kb)
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