Black eagles
Documentary sheds light on racism in German football
Erwin Kostedde (center) made his debut in 1974 as the first black player in the national team
© BROADVIEW Pictures / IMAGO / Sven Simon
How is racism dealt with in German football? The documentary "Black Eagles" investigates this question.
To this day, racist hostility against black players in football is not uncommon. The most recent incident, which many will surely remember fondly, is the Champions League game between Istanbul Basaksehir and Paris Saint-Germain in December 2020, which was canceled after just 15 minutes of playing time due to an incident of racism. The documentary film "Black Eagles" is dedicated to exactly this topic and describes the experiences of black national soccer players who have so far been on the field for the DFB selection.
In around 110 minutes, the film tells the personal stories of black players in the German national soccer team, including Erwin Kostedde (74), who made his debut in 1974 as the first black player in the national team, Steffi Jones (48), Gerald Asamoah (42) and Patrick Owomoyela (41), as well as other colleagues from the Bundesliga.
The documentary is dedicated to the questions: Which way did they have to make before they got there, where we cheer them on? What hurdles did you have to overcome? What prejudices and hostilities were they exposed to? How was it before, how is it today? The stories are accompanied by rare archive images. Racist hostility is also a core topic of the documentary. However, the film also sheds light on how viewers, the media and German society deal with the issue of racism.
The film will be available from April 15 on Prime Video. The documentary will celebrate its free TV premiere on June 18 and will be broadcast on ZDF. The producer is Emmy Prize winner Leopold Hoesch (52). Directed by Torsten Körner (55, "Angela Merkel – The Unexpected").