Germany coach criticizes public broadcaster for asking whether there should be more white players on his team

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann says he is shocked that a public broadcaster asked survey participants whether they would prefer more white players on the national football team.

Nagelsmann agreed with the midfielder on Sunday Comments by Joshua Kimmich the day before, the survey by German state broadcaster ARD was “absolutely racist” and said it was “crazy for a public broadcaster to ask such a question”.

The survey of 1,304 randomly selected participants found that 21% would prefer more white-skinned players to play for Germany.

“I thought briefly about this and I have the feeling that we need to wake up a bit,” said Nagelsmann at the team’s training camp for the upcoming European Championships. “There are people in Europe who had to flee because of wars, economic factors, environmental disasters, people who simply want to be welcomed. We have to ask what are we doing right now? We in Germany are doing really, really well, and when we say something like that, I think it’s crazy how we close our eyes and just block these things out.”

Nagelsmann said Kimmich was right when he said a football team can be a model for how different cultures, religious backgrounds and skin colors can come together as a group to work together toward important goals.

“I always find it bizarre that we all go on vacation to experience other cultures and then other cultures come here and we complain about it. It’s bizarre,” said Nagelsmann. “So I can’t go on vacation, I always have to stay where I am.”

Nagelsmann agreed with Kimmich that he does not want to do without any of the players he nominated for his squad, which includes black players.

“It’s already good,” said Nagelsmann. “We are competing in a European Championship for everyone in the country. And anyone who knows how to play top football is invited to be a national player and give their all for their country. And that’s what we’re doing. And I hope I never have to read about such (expletive) research again.”

Germany face Ukraine on Monday in their first friendly for Euro 2024. They face Greece in their next friendly on Friday in Mönchengladbach.

The host country begins the tournament on June 14 against Scotland in Munich. They then face Hungary in Stuttgart on June 19 and Switzerland in Frankfurt on June 23.

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