What does it have to do with these photos? During the Germany vs. Spain game, did spectators protest against the DFB with Özil photos and the mouth-to-mouth gesture?
At the German World Cup preliminary round match against Spain on Sunday evening (November 27th, 2022), some spectators held up pictures of former German international Mesut Özil. During the action of presumably Qatari spectators, who were dressed in traditional robes of the desert state, some also covered their mouths with their hands.
Reference to German protest against FIFA?
It was initially unclear what was behind the action. With the mouth-to-mouth gesture, the spectators were certainly alluding to a similar gesture by the German national team before the game against Japan, with which the DFB-Elf reacted to the ban on the “One Love” bandage.
Özil’s racism criticism at the DFB
Özil resigned from the national team after the 2018 World Cup in Russia and strongly criticized the German Football Association for racism, among other things. Özil had previously caused a stir and criticism in Germany in 2018 with a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Reporter Friebe: “feeling of patronage”
In the Deutschlandfunk podcast “Players”, reporter Matthias Friebe classifies the action on Sunday evening in the Al Bait Stadium: “This feeling of paternalism, where the Western Europeans come and know everything better, is quite present in Qatar. You could also see that in the Spain game. The appropriate tweets on social media then say: ‘Özil is our superstar. In Germany it’s the same he’s only a superstar when he wins. When he loses, he’s the migrant.’ This alleged moral superiority of the Germans is criticized here.”