Germany Olympic footballers walk off in final warm-up after ace suffers racial abuse in game behind closed doors against Honduras
Germany's men's Olympic football team have walked off the pitch before full-time in Japan in their friendly against Honduras after Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha was allegedly abused by a member of the opposition.
As confirmed by the German FA, the incident occured after Felix Udokhai equalized for the 2016 finalists.
With the score tied at 1-1, Stefan Kuntz's men then exited five minutes before full-time in solidarity with their team-mate.
Thrust in Group D with their Rio conquerers Brazil, the Ivory Coast and Saudi Arabia, Germany get their campaign to go one better underway on Thursday, with their preparations marred by these developments.
ℹ️ The game has ended 5 minutes early with the score at 1-1. The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused.#WirfuerD#Tokyo2020pic.twitter.com/D85Q63Ynr9
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) July 17, 2021
Further details are yet to be divulged, although this is not the first time that Torunarigha, born in Chemnitz to Nigerian parents, has received such treatment.
In February 2020, Schalke 04 were fined $58,000 for fans' racist abuse after a German FA investigation found that "there were monkey chants made" against him in a cup game.
Torunarigha addressed the row on Instagram following the 3-2 loss, in which he also received a second yellow card and was sent off for picking up a case of drinks and slamming it to the floor.
Awful that this racism still continues, hats off to the team for leaving the pitch. Racism has no place here or anywhere.
— Riley (@simplyRileyM) July 17, 2021
Unbelievable
— 𝐣υŇ𝐈 * (@excessplanet) July 17, 2021
"I was born in Germany, I grew up here, I graduated from high school here," he said. "I speak German like everybody else, so I can't understand these comments made by a few idiots during the game.
"You can't choose the color of your skin at birth and it shouldn't matter in the first place. Different skin color, religion and origin should be just as natural in society as it is among us athletes in the dressing room."
As an extension of this, Torunarigha featured in the Schwarze Adler (Black Eagles) documentary this year, chronicling the experiences of black players plying their trade in German football.
By who???
— Nohemy🇭🇳 (@NohemyRamirez) July 17, 2021
There has already been an outpouring of support for the 23-year-old, whose ordeal came in a week when a trio of English footballers were abused by trolls following their missed penalties in the Euro 2020 final shootout against Italy.
"Awful that this racism still continues," said one fan. "Hats off to the team for leaving the pitch."
"Racism has no place here or anywhere," added another.
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