Germany’s Olympic soccer team walked off the pitch during a friendly match against Honduras after one of the German players was racially abused, according to the German Football Association (DFB).
“The game has ended 5 minutes early with the score at 1-1. The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused,” tweeted the DFB.
Torunarigha, who is Black, plays as a defender for Germany.
The Honduran Football Federation did not respond to CNN’s request for comment via email and phone, but the organization said in a tweet that the “alleged racial insult” had been a “misunderstanding” on the pitch.
The match against Honduras took place in Wakayama, Japan, and was the final practice for the German side before their first Olympic match on July 22, according to the DFB.
“When of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option,” Germany coach Stefan Kuntz said in a statement
“When one of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option.”
“It was hard to get him in, he was terribly upset because he said he was repeatedly racially abused. For us it’s clear, this violates our values, we cannot tolerate it. We’ll take our player completely under our protection.”
“After the situation calmed down a bit, the whole Honduras team came over to us on the bench and apologised,” Kuntz said. “That was the end of the matter for us.”
Torunarigha’s club, Hertha Berlin, responded by saying “that’s the only correct decision!”
Germany captain Maximilian Arnold said the team discussed taking the matter further but decided against it.
“We made a correct statement, we made the right decisions and acted correctly. It was also Jordan’s wish. He said that we should leave it at that,” Arnold said.
The behind-closed-doors warm-up game was arranged to prepare for the Olympic Games and took place in Wakayama, Japan.
The German football association confirmed the game was played in thirds of 30 minutes with Douglas Martinez scoring for Honduras in the 21st minute.
Felix Uduokhai equalised for Germany in the 84th minute, but Germany left the pitch soon after.
In February 2020, Hertha BSC player Torunarigha was racially abused by fans of an opposing team in a German Cup match. The DFB fined Bundesliga club Schalke roughly $59,000 over the incident.
