Racist fans at Germany friendly get off with no punishment

A ruling in the racism-scandal regarding the Germany friendly with Serbia in March was delivered in court in Wolfsburg on Tuesday. According to Bild, two of the three fans involved were given no punishment whatsoever. The third fan was given a fine of €2400 for yelling “Sieg Heil” at one point during the match. The three men were charged with roughly the equivalent of “inciting the people” with racist and neo-Nazi cries.

The match in question was on March 20th of this year. Germany hosted Serbia in a friendly in Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena. During the match, the three fans made racist comments towards two of Germany’s stars: Leroy Sané and Ilkay Gundogen. After the match, a well-known German reporter, Andre “Dre” Voigt, posted an emotional video on Facebook about what was said.

Every time Sane had the ball, they talked about the Neger. All of a sudden, Gündogen was “the Turk.” Then they’d talk in pseudo-Turkish when he had the ball. And then again and again, Neger, Neger, Neger.

Thanks to the video posted by Voigt, the three men turned themselves into police just two days after the match.

Both Gündogan and Sané were born in Germany. They are currently coming off their title-clinching performance with Manchester City and were instrumental in City’s clinching of the Premier League for the second year in a row. With this success, many clubs have been knocking on City’s door, regarding transfers for the two players. Most recently, Bayern Munich has been linked to Sané.