The AfD votes for soccer with a moderate quota
The national team is too colorful, the AfD is annoyed. But in the end, the Germany match against Denmark was more interesting at the Essen party congress - at least for a narrow majority.
The average AfD supporter finds the national team a gray crowd. Too much multiculti, too diverse, not enough German. From every pore of football, "the rainbow ideology" emerges, Björn Höcke of the far-right wing rants and once again demonstrates ethnic thinking. The AfD's leading candidate for the European election, Maximilian Krah, spoke about the national team as a "foreign legion."
CDU politician Serap Güler suspects that the AfD wouldn't even shy away from invoking divine powers: The party of self-proclaimed patriots prays every day "so that the national team leaves." For some parts of the party, this could be significant.
However, the strict right around the former German and history teacher Höcke should have noticed that the German team would be rather weak without its players with migration background - all of whom, by the way, have a German passport. In the German jersey, there is no super talent like Jamal Musiala, who scored three of the ten German EM goals so far. Other pillars of the German squad with ancestors from other countries include, among others, the robust defender Antonio Rüdiger and Ilkay Gündoğan, who wears the captain's armband.
But it could be that the AfD is secretly not as foreigner-hating as it seems? The observer rubs his eyes in disbelief: At the Essen AfD party congress, a scheduled point in the agenda for Saturday evening was moved to Sunday. The reason given by the proposer: "Then we can all still watch football tonight."
There is a majority for the motion - but it is significantly below the viewership for the Germany match. More than 46% of the delegates would have preferred to choose referees instead - not for a football match, but for the party's federal arbitration court.
The national team's standout performer, Jamal Musiala, hails from Essen (NRW). Despite their criticisms, the AfD still had its members watch the national soccer team during the European Football Championship 2024, showcasing Ilkay Gündogan and Antonio Rüdiger in action. Surprisingly, one of the agenda items at the Essen AfD party congress was moved to Sunday night to ensure members could still watch the Germany match.
