Fact check: Racist German fan petition story false
Key takeaways
- It has been claimed that following Germany's World Cup exit, some fans launched a petition seeking to ban "African" and "Muslim" players from the national team — and that DW reported the story.
- https://p.dw.com/p/5GQTUGermany suffered another early exit at the World Cup Image: Sathire Kelpa/M.i.S./picture alliance Advertisement.
- Claim: Deutsche Welle reported that after Tah's missed penalty, some Germans were collecting signatures calling for a ban on "Africans" and "Muslims" from playing for the national team in the future.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
It has been claimed that following Germany's World Cup exit, some fans launched a petition seeking to ban "African" and "Muslim" players from the national team — and that DW reported the story. This is not true.
https://p.dw.com/p/5GQTUGermany suffered another early exit at the World Cup Image: Sathire Kelpa/M.i.S./picture alliance Advertisement. It was another blow for the German national team: After group-stage exits at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar, Germany suffered another early exit on Monday. This time, at the FIFA World Cup 2026 — a defeat to Paraguay, 4-3 on penalties in the round of 32.
Midfielder Jonathan Tah missed the decisive spot-kick, and within minutes, numerous users wrote racist comments and insults on Tah's social media channels. Then, the following claim went viral: