Football|The termination of the player’s contract was expensive for the German club.
Dutch soccer star Anwar El Ghazi won a legal battle against his previous club Mainz in July.
German side Mainz terminated the 29-year-old El Ghazi’s contract in November after he posted an update in support of Palestine on social media.
The court ruled the dismissals illegal and ordered Mainz to pay El Ghazi 1.7 million euros in wages and bonuses.
The player recently published a press release in which he said that the club paid him 1.5 million euros. The bonus payments of 200,000 euros have yet to be paid. The BBC and The Athletic reported on the matter, among others.
In his statement, El Ghazi wrote that the legal battle was not about money. The winger said he will donate half a million euros to projects that support the children of Gaza.
– Mainz has repeatedly failed in their attempts to pay me. I hope they take comfort in knowing that, through me, they have helped make the lives of the children of Gaza even a little more bearable, El Ghazi wrote.
Anwar El Ghazi’s time in Mainz was short.
Two El Ghazi, who played one match for the Dutch national team, moved to Cardiff this summer, which plays in England’s second highest league level.
The dispute with Mainz started in mid-October, when the player used the term “from the river to the sea” in his social media post. The term refers to the land area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea where Israel and Palestine are located.
The use of the term is ambiguous. Some see it as referring to an effort to destroy Israel.
El Ghazi returned to team training. In the society’s press release, he said that “above all, he is on the side of peace”. A few days later, El Ghazi said that he had not given the club permission to announce his return and added that he would not take back his previous words. After that, Mainz canceled his contract.
El Ghazi moved to Mainz at the end of September last year as a free agent. At that time, he signed a two-year contract, but only had time to represent Mainz, who plays in the Bundesliga, in three matches.
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