"Imagine if there were only white players in Germany"

Bundestag vice-president Katrin Goring-Eckardt of the Green party hinted, after Julian Nagelsmann's national team's victory over Hungary with Jamal Musiala, who has Nigerian heritage, as the key man, what would happen "if there were only white German players".

These words, posted on her profile on the social network X and accompanied by three rainbow emoticons, which were later deleted, have provoked a series of reactions from other German politicians, who disagree with the statements of the vice-president of the German lower house.

"I am very concerned that people in Germany are judged by the colour of their skin. The vice-president should quickly delete this text," responded Wolfgang Kubicki of the Free Democratic Party (FPD).

Goring-Eckardt was forced to delete the message after the reactions, she later explained her words: "I deleted my tweet. I regret the way I expressed it. What struck me was that 21% of Germans would think it would be better if there were more whites in the national team. I am proud of this team and I hope we can convince the 21 per cent as well.

The vice-president was referring to the controversial survey by ARD, the German state broadcaster, for the 'Sport Inside' programme of 'WDR', the counterpart corporation in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, which sparked controversy after the broadcast of the TV documentary 'Unity and Law and Diversity' prior to the European Championship.

According to it, one in five people surveyed said it would be better if there were more white players in the 'Mannschaft', while 17 per cent of Germans considered it "a disgrace" that national team captain Ilkay Gundogan had Turkish heritage. National coach Julian Nagelsmann described the poll as "madness".