Two hands pointing into the Leipzig night. Little finger and index finger spread out, middle and ring fingers pressed against the thumb. The Turkish defender Merih Demiral, who earns his money at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, celebrated his winning goal against Austria with the wolf salute. It is the identifying symbol of Turkish right-wing extremists. The supporters of the Grey Wolves, the self-proclaimed “idealists” (Ülkücüler), have committed numerous acts of violence and murders in recent decades.
Demiral’s celebratory gesture was followed by a media and political debate. The salute and the Grey Wolves should be banned. Germany and Turkey have now summoned their ambassadors. Demiral rejected the criticism: “The way I celebrated has something to do with my Turkish identity.” He said he saw other people in the stands celebrating like that and just followed suit. UEFA has launched an investigation against him. They had previously banned Albania’s player Mirlind Daku for two games after he had used a megaphone to chant derogatory words against North Macedonia.
Cases like this show the dilemma of this European Championship. A football tournament like this is not just a fun, big festival where everyone happily hugs each other. During a big tournament where nations compete against each other, nationalisms also become visible. And when a continent moves to the right, you notice it all the more in football.
Europe’s right-wing parties are achieving electoral successes; in Italy, the self-proclaimed “post-fascist” Giorgia Meloni is even prime minister. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders has brought a government of his own into office. Hungary has been governed by Viktor Orbán for years and the Rassemblement National recently became the strongest force in the French elections. In Germany, the AfD is now an established party and the second strongest force in polls across the country.
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And so this European Championship will also be a stage of ambivalence: There is room for friendly encounters and humorous performances. The tournament brings people from all over Europe and beyond together for a month. Videos of orange-colored city centers in a party mood or humorous culinary duels were found everywhere on the Internet. Scotland and Cologne fell in love with each other, so that kilt-wearing men passionately sang the anthem of 1. FC Cologne to the melody of the Scottish folk song Loch Lomond get up
At the same time, extreme right-wingers are using the opportunity to spread their messages. For example, positive references to the fascist Ustaše movement of Nazi collaborator Ante Pavelić and the HOS militia, which sees itself in the tradition of the Ustaše, could be seen in the stands at all three Croatian group matches. Serbian football fans displayed their great power fantasies by denying Kosovo’s independence. They hung Russian flags and chanted “Putin,” which can be interpreted as support for Russia’s war of aggression against the whole of Ukraine.
In the Berlin Olympic Stadium, a banner with the campaign name Defend Europe of the neo-fascist Identitarian Movement was displayed in the Austrian fan block. And fans from several countries, including Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, sang the melody of the song Love always by Gigi D’Agostino. In the past, right-wing extremists had appropriated the song and accompanied it with racist statements (below is a complete list of all right-wing extremist incidents surrounding the European Championship).
On the other hand, players and coaches also use their voices to speak out against right-wing extremism. “The history of Austria and Germany over the last hundred years should be enough of a lesson for us,” warned Austria’s German team manager Ralf Rangnick. “We have to be very vigilant and very careful with our right eye.” In addition to Rangnick, France’s Kylian Mbappé and Austria’s Michael Gregoritsch also publicly took a stand against the right during the tournament.
What is also becoming clear these days is that football is political. The stadium was and is a place for political communication. This can go in different directions. We saw both during this European Championship: the beautiful and happy sides as well as nationalistic outbursts. It had to be clear from the start: Europe’s shift to the right is also reflected in the stands.
Overview of known nationalist and right-wing extremist incidents surrounding this European Championship:
Turkish striker Merih Demiral celebrated his 2-0 win against Austria with the wolf salute, a symbol of the far-right Grey Wolves. Some Turkish fans had also shown the wolf salute before and during their team’s matches, and during the match against the Czech Republic, pictures of celebrating supporters with a Grey Wolves flag circulated. Austrian fans in Leipzig sang “Germany for the Germans, foreigners out!” to the tune of Gigi D’Agostino’s party song during a TV broadcast by Swiss television. Love alwaysThe racist version is a right-wing nationalist meme, and fans of other nations also sang the song during the European Championship.
During the match against Poland, a banner with the inscription “Defend Europe” was displayed in the Austrian block. This is an anti-immigration slogan of the ethnic Identitarian Movement, which is active in various European countries. During the Germany match against Hungary, Hungarian fans paraded around with a “Free Gigi” poster, in reference to the UEFA ban on playing Gigi D’Agostino’s song on fan mile. The fans sang the melody of Love alwaysThe banner was later also visible in the stadium. One day later, the Döp-Dödö-Döp chants were heard during the Spain vs. Italy match (53rd minute).
The racist slogans on Love always were also sung at German fan events, ZEIT ONLINE has compiled a map of known incidents since the opening game. Hungarian fans also attracted attention around the Germany game with Hitler salutes and anti-queer and sexist banners as well as a poster with the inscription “Anti-Antifa”. Hitler salutes were also reported at some fan events at the European Championship opening game against Scotland and from Berlin during the round of 16 match against Denmark. Before the match against Italy, Albanian fans showed up with a Greater Albania flag, which includes parts of Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and the whole of Kosovo. Fans from Croatia and Albania chanted “Kill Serbs” during their game, and anti-Serbian and anti-Kosovan posters were visible in the block. The Albanian striker Mirlind Daku was banned by UEFA for chanting the slogan. Albanian fans also burned a Serbian flag.
Before the match against Spain, Croatian fans honored the war criminal Slobodan Praljak and wore the emblem of a neo-fascist militia.
Slovenian and Serbian fans sang together “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”. Serbian fans displayed pro-Russian banners. They chanted “Putin, Putin” in Munich before the match against Denmark. Serbian fans also posed with the flag of an ultra-nationalist militia that has committed war crimes. English media reported that monkey noises were made from the Serbian fan camp towards the English players. English fans showed up with an anti-immigration poster that read “Stop the Boats” – an allusion to refugees crossing the English Channel by boat.
Collaboration: Philip Moser
Two hands pointing into the Leipzig night. Little finger and index finger spread out, middle and ring fingers pressed against the thumb. The Turkish defender Merih Demiral, who earns his money at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia, celebrated his winning goal against Austria with the wolf salute. It is the identifying symbol of Turkish right-wing extremists. The supporters of the Grey Wolves, the self-proclaimed “idealists” (Ülkücüler), have committed numerous acts of violence and murders in recent decades.
Demiral’s celebratory gesture was followed by a media and political debate. The salute and the Grey Wolves should be banned. Germany and Turkey have now summoned their ambassadors. Demiral rejected the criticism: “The way I celebrated has something to do with my Turkish identity.” He said he saw other people in the stands celebrating like that and just followed suit. UEFA has launched an investigation against him. They had previously banned Albania’s player Mirlind Daku for two games after he had used a megaphone to chant derogatory words against North Macedonia.
