Ghana senior national team head coach Otto Addo has launched a scathing attack on German football authorities after yet another round of racist incidents marred the opening games of the DFB Pokal.
The Black Stars boss was left angered after winger Christopher Antwi-Adjei and youngster Kelsey Owusu were subjected to abuse over the weekend. Antwi-Adjei, who featured for Schalke against Lokomotiv Leipzig, endured racial slurs from sections of the crowd, with the “N-word” reportedly directed at him until he alerted the referee.
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On the same weekend, Owusu became a target of online hate after Borussia Dortmund’s clash with Augsburg, with insults directed his way for a challenge on Yan Couto. The toxic atmosphere was further underscored when Mainz playmaker Nadiem Amiri received hate-filled messages following his side’s tie with Kaiserslautern.
Addo, who has long been active in the fight against racism through his “Roots Against Racism in Sport” campaign, said the German Football Association (DFB) and the league body (DFL) can no longer afford half-measures.
“For years, we’ve seen the same pattern: an incident, then downplaying, then silence,” he was quoted by Kicker. “Racism in football is not an accident or a marginal phenomenon, it is systemic,” Addo stressed.
“As long as we talk about individual perpetrators and individual idiots, the system remains untouched. In order to change the system, the DFB and DFL must finally make anti-racism a top priority.”
