Status: December 19, 2021 4:42 p.m.
VfL Osnabrück’s away game at MSV Duisburg was canceled when the score was 0-0. There had been racist insults against VfL professional Aaron Opoku from the spectator stands.
It was 33 minutes when Opoku rushed to take a corner. At that moment there was apparently violent insults against the 22-year-old from the Duisburg grandstand. Teammates and opponents rushed to Opoku’s help. The referee Nicolas Winter (Freckenfeld) initially sent both teams into the dressing room. “There was a corner kick for VfL Osnabrück and then monkey sounds from the stands,” said Winter at “MagentaSport”. The team of referees reacted immediately, “I saw how shocked the player was,” said Winter.
After a good 30 minutes of deliberations in the cabin wing, the decision was made that the encounter would no longer be continued. A novelty in the top three German divisions. The VfL players saw themselves in no condition to continue the game due to the incidents. “VfL Osnabrück – and that is more than understandable – can no longer compete, the boy is fix and everyone, the whole team is finished, we are honestly even after this incredible incident,” said MSV spokesman Martin Haltermann.
MSV Duisburg: incident is “a no-go”
The alleged perpetrator was quickly identified with the help of other spectators and taken out of the stadium. “We can’t accept something like that. Aaron is finished and was no longer able to play,” said VfL managing director Michael Welling. By not continuing to play, the club wanted to document “that we do not accept that”. According to Welling, the MSV player Leroy Kwadwo was also racially insulted.
“It cannot be that we always only formulate slogans that we stick slogans on T-shirts. We have to react when something like this happens. We must not accept that in football and in society.”
Michael Welling
The MSV apologized for the incident, saying it was “a no-go”. While the crews were in the dressing room, many of the spectators chanted “Nazis out!”. The stadium control had the anti-fascism song “Schrei nach Liebe” played by the band “Die Ärzte”. How the game will be rated remains open for the time being. “We agree with our Duisburg colleagues that we would like it to be a replay,” commented Welling.