Has teenagers ‘very busy’
German U17 European champions racially insulted
06/07/2023, 11:55 am
With a thriller, the U17 juniors of the DFB secure the European championship title after an outstanding tournament. But during the European Championships in Hungary, they are repeatedly racially insulted on the Internet. The hate draws the teenagers even closer together.
The German U17 European champions were racially attacked on their way to winning the title in Hungary. Joti Chatzialexiou, sporting director of the national teams, said this in an interview published on the DFB website. “Besides the pitch – or rather on the Internet – there were unfortunately also unpleasant accompanying circumstances. There was a strong accumulation of racist comments under individual postings on our social media channels. Our boys also saw them, which concerned them a lot”, said the official.
The team decided together “not to give room for distractions during the course of the tournament, and that’s how we got even closer together as a team,” said Chatzialexiou. He called the players “great role models at their young age. I’m very proud of that, I’ll always be there for them and have their backs.”
One never tires of “standing up for our values,” said Chatzialexiou, “We will continue to resolutely oppose racism, discrimination, hate and hate speech at all levels. With our teams, we stand for diversity and peaceful coexistence. Anyone who doesn’t understand that has no place in our entire football family.”
The juniors beat France 5-4 on penalties last Friday, crowning an outstanding tournament. 14 years ago, the later world champions Mario Götze, Marc-André ter Stegen and Skhodran Mustafi triumphed at the U17 European Championship. Assan Ouedraogo from Schalke 04 made the decision with his converted penalty, goalkeeper Max Schmitt from FC Bayern had previously kept the German team in the game with a save against Fode Sylla.
“What a thriller in the final! This European Championship title is a fantastic, great success for Christian Wück’s team of coaches and the team behind the team. Watching this team was fun,” national coach Hansi Flick said in a statement on the DFB .de said: “Winning the title is a nice confirmation of the quality of our talents and their excellent training by the clubs and the DFB.”