It was another blow for the German national team: After group-stage exits at the World Cup in Russia and Qatar, Germany suffered another early exit on Monday. This time, at the FIFA World Cup 2026 – losing 4–3 to Paraguay on penalties in the round of 32.
Midfielder Jonathan Tah missed the decisive spot-kick and within minutes, many users wrote racist comments and insults on Tah’s social media channels. Then, the following claim went viral:
claim: Deutsche Welle reported that after Tah missed a penalty, some Germans were collecting signatures to ban “Africans” and “Muslims” from playing for the national team in the future. This was according to the Spanish language post on x With over 2 million views, and This one With over 900,000 views. This claim also circulated on other platforms Facebook.
DW Fact Check: : False.
DW did not report on any such racist petition, and DW’s fact check team did not find any reports from other media outlets that said anything similar. Additionally, Germany’s football association DFB told DW in a statement that it was not aware of any such petition or initiative and that no such information had been provided to the DFB.
“Despite this, the content of such a claim clearly contradicts the values for which the DFB stands. The DFB is strongly committed to diversity, integration and respectful coexistence. Discrimination, exclusion and racist stereotyping have no place in football or our society,” the DFB said.
DW could not find any such petition, neither through a Google search nor on platforms like Petition. change.org Or OpenPetition.de. We also contacted DW at the time of publishing this article, but did not receive any response.
A new rule to tackle racism on the pitch
racism in footballTakes place on a regular basis, including the World Cup and European Championships. A famous example came in 2021 following England’s Euro 2020 final defeat, which was also decided by a penalty shootout, when three black England players were subjected to widespread racist abuse online.
For this World Cup, a new rule has been introduced to help tackle racism on the pitch; Players who cover their mouth with their hands during an on-field collision may be shown a red card. This is to prevent players from hiding abusive, racist or homophobic language from lip-readers and cameras.
DW regularly reports on debates over racism in football and language in sport, most recently on the case involving former Germany international Bastian Schweinsteiger, when his TV analysis of Germany’s World Cup opponents Ivory Coast appeared to be based on racist stereotypes.
However, the claim that DW reported on an alleged petition against players with immigrant, migrant or Muslim backgrounds is false.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold