“Perverse”: Top athletes rail against special football roles

If politicians give the green light for Bundesliga games from mid-May on Wednesday, as expected, “then the state will sell the health of the people and the suffering people to football. That’s perverse,” world-class javelin thrower Johannes Vetter told the Sächsische Zeitung.

Former shot put world champion Christina Schwanitz also sees unequal treatment between footballers and other athletes. “I don’t think it’s nice that football takes on a special role and ignores everything just because the friction between the thumb and index finger is right,” said Schwanitz. World-class javelin thrower Johannes Vetter. © AFP / ANDREJ ISAKOVIC

Karl Schulze, two-time Olympic rowing champion and fan of the second division team Dynamo Dresden, sees the ghost games as clear evidence of the alienation of professional football from normal sports fans: “The fact that football no longer even needs to play in front of fans shows how decadent it is World that lives.” European water jump champion Tina Punzel considers it “concerning” if “thousands of tests have to be purchased” for a Bundesliga restart.

Double Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich (bobsledding) criticized what he saw as the lack of solidarity among football professionals: “And those who are least financially struggling still find it difficult to forego a few percent of their salary. I find that to be humanly weak.” However, professional footballers across Germany accepted salary cuts during the Corona crisis.

From a social perspective, Vetter is still critical of the fact that the Bundesliga should start rolling again in May. “We are in a phase in which everyone should stick together, because everyone is going through the same thing now,” said the 2017 world champion: “Extra sausages are not part of it for me.”

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“Perverse”: Top athletes rail against special football roles

Some top German athletes have denounced a special role for professional football in the planned resumption of play.