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, this EURO is also visited by extremists and nationalists from various European countries. They cause disturbances with unsightly actions, some of which go unnoticed in the big EM hustle and bustle of goals, dancing, and train chaos. In total, however, they listen with alarming 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: "At an EURO, countries face each other, and therefore nationalist messages are sent most frequently. Flags are waved, which is naturally political."
"No Phenomenon Exclusive to This EURO"
At flags and banners during the EURO in Germany, fans from the Balkans, in particular, stand out with nationalist creations. For example, in Gelsenkirchen and Munich, Serbian banners featured a map of their country with Kosovo as part of Serbia. The slogan read: "No Surrender." Albanian fans displayed a transparent of their country that reached into neighboring countries during the match against Italy 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 Albania, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia (Slovenian fans displayed the right-wing Celtic cross in Stuttgart), still, "such actions at football matches and tournaments have been a theme 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 Wars to stage state sovereignty."
A football stadium is a highly emotional setting. The affection for one's own team, in this case, one's own country, does not only manifest itself in failure, but sometimes in hatred towards the opponent. Partly, it defines itself through the hatred. Football offers itself to extremists and nationalists not only because it is the largest platform and the highest media presence in Europe, but also because, according to Gabler, "naturally, a masculine-dominated sport like football comes into play for nationalist and extreme right ideologies rather than, for example, gymnastics. It would not conform to traditional masculinity enough."
## "Kill the Serbs", "Putin"-Slogans at "Putin"-Speeches
The Balkan disputes during the EM in Germany revealed deep-rooted 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 essentially a confirmation that they did not appreciate 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 in which he allegedly 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 had already been spread on the big stage. The Albanian journalist Arlind Sadiku had his EM accreditation revoked because he made an eagle gesture towards Serbian fans in front of his TV camera - a charged 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 as the nationalist Balkan disputes cannot be read without reference to the Yugoslav Wars and the long history of ethnic conflicts, 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 match 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 match 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, there is a lot to suggest that behind the actions there was a special political symbolism", the fan researcher continues. "Thus, a symbolic culture war is created", fittingly reflecting 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 respondents in Germany expressed a preference for having more white players in the German national team. Gabler was not surprised. "The number is certainly shocking, but it reflects the findings of attitude research on how deeply group-based hate attitudes are spread in the population."
In Germany, where a far-right party is celebrating electoral successes, there is no longer a torch mob roaming the streets, but the racist message remains the same and seems to have taken hold of the national team once again. "The slogan sung to the Gigi-D'Agostino song is the racism of the 90s at its finest," says Gabler. "Now it's linked with less crude, but cooler pop cultural things. This makes racism more acceptable, more accessible, and spreads faster among broader circles of young people."
Neo-Nazis want to make the EURO a disaster
German fans have not been known for large nationalist actions, but smaller scandals at fan festivals or public viewings tell the story of the right-wing shift. Already at the opening match, a man at a public viewing event in Bremen showed the Hitler salute and sang the racist version of the Gigi-D'Agostino song. From his group, a Jewish-hating slogan was also shouted out. In Warnemünde, according to the Federal Police, a 15-year-old girl shouted "Germans for Germans, foreigners out" around the DFB game against Scotland. According to a survey by "Zeit online" among police departments and prosecutors in all 16 federal states, German law enforcement agencies have registered at least 52 cases since June 14th. Seven of these cases were directly related to celebrations around the EURO.
Many with right-wing sympathies have distanced themselves from the German national team over the years and no longer attend the games with their hooligan groups. Instead, there is hatred towards the national team. In an article 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 for "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 ugly face at the EURO so far mainly in smaller actions. Whether it will have a lasting influence on football and fan scenes, according to expert Gabler, is still unclear. The fan climate in Germany has changed negatively over the last ten years. "In the 2000s, many fan initiatives and ultra groups 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."
- Despite attempts to maintain peace and unity, the Right-wing shift in Europe has also impacted the European Football Championship 2024, with Neo-Nazis in Germany aiming to turn the tournament into a disaster.
- The presence of extremists and nationalists at the EURO is not exclusive to this year's event, as political messages of Right-wing extremism and discrimination have been a recurring theme in football matches and tournaments, particularly in the Balkan region.
- In line with the growing right-wing sentiment in Europe, a survey conducted before the EURO start revealed that 21% of respondents in Germany expressed a preference for having more white players in the German national team, reflecting the spread of group-based hate attitudes in the population.
