Germany’s World Cup stars asked: Do you want to play for tyrant who did this?
GERMANY – the last winner of the World Cup – is coming under pressure to boycott this year’s competition in Russia.
Some of the country’s leading football players called on their government ‘to act’ after being shown a picture of a badly injured young girl in Syria – one of the latest victims of the bombing campaign in eastern Ghouta by Russian and Syrian planes.
Footballers and coaches reacted with outrage after being shown the image of the girl by journalists from Bild – Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper, which has also become concerned about Russia’s alleged involvement in the Salisbury nerve gas attack.
The stars – including Joachim Low and Joshua Kimmich – stopped short of calling for a boycott of the World Cup, but said the behaviour of the Putin regime puts them in a ‘difficult position’ and urged politicians to act decisively.
Julian Reichelt, editor-in-chief of Bild, likened the Russian World Cup to the notorious 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which were exploited by Adolf Hitler to promote Nazi propaganda.
‘I don’t want to make a direct comparison between Nazi Germany and the Kremlin, but there is a parallel of using sports events to change perspectives and cloud the view of what is really going on,’ he said. ‘Russian planes are carrying out sorties every day in Syria and have already flattened Aleppo. I have witnessed how Putin’s military has flattened parts of Syria where there are innocent children. Germany has to think about how it is going to respond to this, especially after the Russian state has been accused of being involved in the Salisbury poisoning.
‘Can our national football team play in the World Cup in Russia with a clear conscience when this is going on?’
Mr Reichelt also called on German firms such as Mercedes-Benz and Adidas – which had links to the Nazis during the Second World War – to consider their sponsorship commitments at the World Cup. He added: ‘These companies directly helped the Nazi war effort and now they have a historic responsibility to send the right message to Russia.’
It comes days after British MPs called for a co-ordinated boycott of the World Cup. Last week Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said British ministers should urge allies to join a co-ordinated boycott of the World Cup as part of a wider package of reprisals against the Putin regime.
Boris Johnson also warned that British officials could boycott the World Cup. Royal sources have also confirmed that Prince William will not attend the event, despite being president of the Football Association.
The Government cannot order the team to pull out, but ministers could place huge pressure on the Football Association to withdraw from an event that will be used for propaganda purposes by an enemy of the UK.