Coach of the senior national team of Ghana, Otto Addo, has expressed frustration over the growing incidents of racism in German football following the recent abuse of several players in the first round of the DFB Pokal, including Black Stars winger Christopher Antwi-Adjei and Kelsey Owusu.
Antwi-Adjei was whistled at with the “N-word” during the game between Schalke O4 and Lokomotiv Leipzig, forcing the winger to report to the referee.
Meanwhile, Owusu was abused on social media the same weekend during the game against Borussia Dortmund, a former club of Addo, for a tackle on midfielder Yan Couto.
Elsewhere, Nadiem Amiri of Mainz O5 received hate messages after the match against Kaizerlautern.
Addo, a campaigner against racism through his “Roots – Against Racism in Sport” initiative, has charged the German Football Association to make the fight against the undesirous canker eating up the sport their main priority.
“For years, we’ve seen the same pattern: an incident, then downplaying, then silence,” he said, as quoted in Kicker.
“Racism in football is not an accident or a marginal phenomenon—it is systemic,” Addo added.
“As long as we talk about individual perpetrators and individual idiots, the system remains untouched. To change the system, the DFB and DFL must finally make anti-racism a top priority.”
Addo, born to Ghanaian parents in Germany, spent his entire football career playing in the European country, where he featured for the likes of Hamburger SV and Borussia Dortmund.
Despite his German heritage, he chose to represent Ghana at the international level, going on to become the coach of the Black Stars.
