Bundesliga soccer team 1. FSV Mainz 05 has terminated its player Anwar El Ghazi without notice. The club is reacting to “the player’s statements and posts on social media,” the club said in a statement. El Ghazi had shared several posts on his Instagram post about the Middle East conflict in which he sided with the Palestinians. In his original post, which has since been deleted, he indirectly denied Israel’s right to exist.
“To deny Israel its right to exist is in principle sufficient for termination without notice,” said lawyer and player agent Alexander Bergweiler on Deutschlandfunk.
Termination not possible after warning
However, the case is much more complicated. Because Mainz 05 responded to El Ghazi’s first post with a warning and an exemption. As a result, this post can no longer legally be used as a reason for immediate termination, said Bergweiler. “They probably didn’t want to lose the player immediately. Because termination without notice also means that football clubs can’t resell the player.”
Last Monday, the club published a statement saying that El Ghazi had explained himself to the board and now regretted his post. You now return to normal. But it didn’t last long. On Wednesday, the player followed up with a new post in which he indirectly accused Mainz 05 of lying. The statement was not authorized by him and his position “remains what it has always been.”
Possibly “behavior damaging to the club”
That, in turn, is no longer enough for an immediate termination, said Bergweiler: “In fact, in his reply he did not refer to his original post, but to a post that had been posted in the meantime, in which he spoke out against all violence. That he posted ‘Mainz is not right’ could be behavior that is damaging to the club. But he no longer explicitly refers to the original post, but only to the second post that he made afterwards, in which he put everything into perspective a bit.”
If El Ghazi is actually right and the club’s statement was not agreed upon with him, the club’s immediate termination would even be ineffective, says Bergweiler. “If you look closely at the post, he explicitly writes underneath: ‘I am against anti-Semitism.’ “It’s detrimental to the club. And whether that’s enough for a termination without further warning, especially when it comes to expressing a political opinion, I have a stomach ache.”
Bergweiler is therefore certain: “The case is certainly not over yet.” El Ghazi now has to consider whether he should take action against the termination or look for a new club.
2023-11-04 18:31:56
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