German soccer players face racist abuse on social media at U21 European Championship

Updated Jun. 22, 2023 5:57 p.m. ET

Associated Press

KUTAISI, Georgia (AP) — German soccer player Youssoufa Moukoko condemned online racist abuse directed at him and teammate Jessic Ngankam as they played at the European Under-21 Championship on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Moukoko and 22-year-old Ngankam, who are both Black, each missed penalties in Germany's opening 1-1 draw with Israel on Thursday at the tournament in Georgia. After the game, numerous comments including monkey emojis were left under recent posts on both players' Instagram accounts.

“If we win we are all Germans. If we lose, then these monkey comments arrive. Jessic received them, I've received them. Things like this simply do not belong in football,” Borussia Dortmund forward Moukoko said in comments reported by Germany's dpa news agency.

Germany's general manager Joti Chatzialexiou said earlier this month that players on the national Under-17 team had faced online racist abuse on their way to winning the European title.

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