During Germany’s match against Spain, fans were seen with a picture of Mesut Özil, who retired from the national team in 2018 after blaming management and supporters for racism. The German newspaper Bild believes that the fans owe Germany a double standard when they themselves complained to Fifa after being banned from wearing rainbow armbands. They did so by holding their hand over their mouth in a team photo before kick-off against Japan. news’s commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt believes that parallels can be drawn to that. – New, recent history suggests that the Germans may not have been very good at giving everyone the opportunity to express themselves, to say what they want, and it was extremely controversial how Mesut Özil was treated, he says. – Hitting After the World Cup in 2018, Özil was singled out as a scapegoat when Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness came out and said that he had not played in a single match for the national team in five years. Before Özil retired, he had met the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and chose to publish a picture with him on his social media to show his support. This angered the compatriots in Germany, and that even with Özil publishing a long statement on Twitter in which he blamed the national team and supporters for being racist, at the same time as he thanked himself in the German national team uniform. – I am German when I win, and an immigrant when I lose, he wrote among other things. This is what Saltvedt refers to when he says that Germany has met itself at the door. APPROPRIATE: news’s commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt thinks the marking was apt. Photo: Martin Leigland / news – Germany presents itself with double standards, this is an expression that one thinks the Germans are hypocritical, says Saltvedt. He points out that the association has asked for a reason for Özil at the back, because they took the condemnation of him too far. At the same time, Saltvedt believes that Özil should perhaps not post a picture of President Erdogan at the time, but that he probably felt that he could do it as a German citizen with Turkish roots. – He noticed quite quickly that there wasn’t much of an audience for it after all. Then we may be in the discussions that we have now taken to Qatar. There is a feeling that the attitudes towards Muslims and the Arab world are perhaps different from the one we have towards those with a cultural background that we know better in Europe. Unfortunately, says Saltvedt. BLUNK: Both photography and drawings were presented by the contributors. Photo: JOHN SIBLEY / Reuters – Do you think the marking was in its place? – We have to discuss how many markings we should have here, but I think this was one that was very accurate. They should have that for it, he says. He claims: – The association treated Özil badly, and now they say that human rights and freedom of expression are so important that they are willing to do everything to protect them. It is not certain that they should be so tough in the face. I think that is actually marked in a quite clear way. He particularly likes the image of an Özil winking, done with a certain “subtle elegance”. – It’s like they say “thank you for last”. He who laughs last, laughs best, he says. Want to change the focus Eivind Bisgaard Sundet, who has followed German football for a number of years, believes the marking could be a ploy by the Qatari authorities, who wish to shift the focus. – One should not think much further than that this goes back to Özil, about what it is like to be a Muslim in Germany. The problem started when the German players did not get their say, and now the authorities in Qatar are trying to change their focus, says Sundet to news. He explains that Özil pointed out that football is ruled by white and privileged men. – This is still the case. The impression that they don’t have freedom of speech now, parallels can be drawn to Özil, who was suppressed when he spoke his mind, says Sundet. He does not think that Özil is particularly satisfied with being the subject of such a marking. – I don’t think he thinks it’s dead cool to be taken as income in a campaign about something that is about something completely different, he says. MANGE: There was a section in the audience who marked with a message aimed at Germany. Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH / Reuters
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Qatari fans with a German touch – expert calls the marking “elegant” and “very effective”
