The ugly face of the EM in Germany
Symbolic Culture War: Due to the political nature of football, the EURO in Germany is not spared from the right-wing shift. Nationalists and extremists from various countries cause scandals in stadiums and fan festivals. German Neo-Nazis want to turn the tournament into a disaster.
During this year's European Championship, millions of people from all over Europe celebrate in stadiums from Munich to Berlin. For the most part, it remains friendly and peaceful, as the organizers, politics, and football fans in Germany had hoped, even though one person in the Stuttgart fan zone injured several people with a knife on a Wednesday evening.
However, extremists and nationalists from various European countries also attend this EURO. They cause disturbances with unsavory actions, some of which go unnoticed amidst the chaos of goals, dancing, and train disruptions. In total, however, they leave listeners with dangerous, political messages - and fit in with the right-wing and nationalism that Europe is currently experiencing.
"Football is always political, and this EURO has many political dimensions because it is a large media platform for presenting messages," says Jonas Gabler, a political scientist and fan researcher, in conversation with ntv.de: "During an EURO, countries face off against each other, and therefore nationalist messages are sent most frequently. Flags are waved, which is inherently political."
"No Phenomenon Exclusively for this EURO"
During flags and banners at the EURO in Germany, fans from the Balkans stand out with nationalist creations. In Gelsenkirchen and Munich, for example, Serbian banners displayed a map of their country with Kosovo as part of Serbia. The slogan read: "No Surrender." Albanian fans showed a transparent of their country that reached into neighboring countries during the game against Italy on the previous Saturday.
"An EURO offers itself to extremists and nationalists," says Gabler, who also confirms that, of course, not all 70,000 people in the stadium are Nationalists. In the Balkan region, "there are not peacefully resolved border issues," he explains further. Flags are used as low-threshold opportunities for nationalist messages on the largest stage. Although the actions at the tournament in Germany take up a lot of space due to the presence of four Balkan teams - Albania, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia (Slovenian fans showed the right-wing Celtic cross in Stuttgart) - "such actions at football matches and tournaments have been a topic in the past," says the expert on fan groups and extremism. "It is therefore not a phenomenon exclusive to this EURO. Football has been used in the Balkans since the Yugoslav War to stage state sovereignty."
A football stadium is a highly emotional setting. The attachment to one's own team, in this case to one's own country, sometimes manifests itself not only in the case of failure but also in hatred towards the opponent. Football offers itself to extremists and nationalists not only because it is the largest platform and the highest media presence in Europe. "Naturally, a male-dominated sport like football comes into play for nationalist and far-right ideologies more than, for example, gymnastics," says the fan researcher.
## "Kill the Serbs", "Putin"-Slogans at "Balkan Conflicts" EM Games in Germany
The Balkan disputes during the EM games in Germany revealed deep-seated hatred. During the match between Croatia and Albania in Hamburg, fans of both teams chanted "Kill, kill, kill the Serbs". Serbia threatened to withdraw, which was mainly a confirmation that they didn't like such things. Serbian fans chanted "Putin, Putin" slogans and paid homage to the war criminal Ratko Mladic. Supporters from Croatia and Albania also shouted war cries for war criminals. Albanian national player Mirlind Daku was suspended for two games due to nationalist chants where he called over a megaphone "Kill the Serbs, kill the Macedonians".
Top players from the Balkan, such as Luka Modric, a world star from Real Madrid, did not comment on such actions. The UEFA tried to counteract with bans and fines, but the messages were already spread on the big stage. The Albanian journalist Arlind Sadiku had his EM accreditation revoked because he formed an eagle symbol towards Serbian fans in front of his TV camera - a loaded political symbol for all ethnic Albanians, including in Kosovo, which had already caused attention during the 2018 World Cup with Swiss Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri. Before Sadiku's action, Serbians in the background of his TV camera sang "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia".
Just like the nationalist Balkan disputes cannot be read without the Yugoslav Wars and the long history of ethnic strife, this EM is also political because it takes place against the background of the right-wing shift in Europe and not in a neutral, empty space. The tournament is a microcosm of the current debates in Europe. Even in the stadiums and fan festivals, interpretative battles are being fought. "The EM reflects the great political conflicts and the social debates that are currently being conducted in Europe," says fan researcher Gabler.
"Racism of the 90s at its Finest"
There is a "Defend Europe" sign in the Austrian fan block during the game against Poland in Berlin. A slogan of new right-wing movements, such as the far-right Identitarian Movement (IB). Turkish fans displayed the "Wolfsgruß", a symbol of the far-right Grey Wolves, and other Turkish-nationalist codes in the stadium and at fan parties. Hungarian fans showed the Hitler salute, sang the in Germany banned Gigi-D'Agostino song "L'amour toujours" at the fan march before the game against the German team and held a banner with the inscription "Free Gigi" in the stadium.
"The song stands for a differentiation and pop culturalization of the extreme right", says Gabler. The ban on the song would have given the Hungarian fans an attack surface, which they gratefully accepted. "Given the known political affiliation of the leading fan groups of the Hungarian national team, a lot speaks for the fact that behind the actions there was a special political symbolism", the fan researcher continues. "Thus, a symbolic culture war ensues", fittingly for the debates that currently grip Europe.
In the same breath, in a representative survey conducted by Infratest dimap before the EURO start, 21 percent of the respondents expressed a preference for more white players in the German national team. Gabler was not surprised. "The number is certainly shocking, but it reflects the prevalence of group-based hate attitudes in the population as shown in attitude research."
In Germany, where a far-right party celebrates electoral success, there is no longer a torch mob roaming the streets, but the racist message remains the same and seems to have gained renewed ground in the national team. "The slogan sung to the Gigi-D'Agostino song is the racism of the 90s in its finest form," says Gabler. "Now it is linked with less crude, but cooler pop cultural things. This makes racism more acceptable, more accessible, and spreads faster among broader segments of young people."
Neonazis want to turn the EURO into a disaster
German fans have not been known for major nationalist actions so far, but smaller incidents at fan festivals or public viewings tell the story of the right-wing shift. At the opening match in Bremen, a man at a public viewing event gave the Hitler salute and sang the racist version of the Gigi-D'Agostino song. From his group, a Jew-hating slogan was also shouted out. In Warnemünde, according to the Federal Police, a 15-year-old girl shouted "Germans for the Germans, foreigners out" during the DFB match against Scotland. According to a Zeit online survey of police departments and prosecutors in all 16 federal states, German law enforcement agencies have recorded at least 52 cases since June 14th, seven of which were directly related to EURO celebrations.
Many with right-wing inclinations have distanced themselves from the DFB team over the years and no longer attend matches with their hooligan groups. Instead, there is hatred towards the national team. In a contribution for the Federal Agency for Political Education, Robert Claus, an expert on fan culture, hooligans, and extremism in football, writes that the neo-Nazi Dortmund magazine "N.S. Heute" calls on "DFB soldiers" to make the home EURO a disaster. The magazine then presents several suggestions for generating media attention for the tournament through provocations and extremist interventions and urges the extreme right scene to be creative.
The youngest right-wing shift in Europe has shown its hateful face at the EURO so far mainly in smaller actions. Whether it will have a lasting impact on football and fan scenes, according to expert Gabler, is still unclear. The fan climate in Germany has, however, changed negatively over the last ten years. "In the 2000s, many fan initiatives and ultragroups emerged that engaged against racism and discrimination," says the fan researcher. "But since the 2010s, some new hooligan groups have emerged from the right-wing spectrum."
- The presence of Neo-Nazis in Germany, hoping to turn the European Football Championship 2024 into a disaster, aligns with the rising tide of right-wing extremism across Europe.
- During the European Championship, while many incidents of discrimination and racism have been reported, some extremist groups use football stadiums and fan festivals as platforms to propagate their right-wing populist and nationalist ideologies.
- The right-wing shift in Europe has seeped into the world of football, as shown by the emergence of new hooligan groups that promote racist and discriminatory messages, seeking to tarnish the image of the European Football Championship.
