In Germany, the football World Cup is not only a sporting focus but also a political issue. Steffen Baumgart, coach of 1. FC Köln, sees this as a problem for the players. They should be allowed to concentrate on their work - and they need the support of society.
Bundesliga coach Steffen Baumgart complains that, from a German perspective, there was too much talk about politics at the World Cup. "We should stop exploiting players. We athletes shouldn't let ourselves be put in front of the cart. That doesn't mean that we can't take a stance," said the head coach of 1. FC Köln to the "Kölnische Rundschau". In addition, the support in the country for the DFB team was not particularly great. "I've never seen a country stand behind its national team as little as we do. That's very sad and makes me think," said Baumgart.
Handball manager Bob Hanning had recently made a similar statement. In his opinion, the decision should have been made either for a World Cup boycott or for dialogue on site, "without playing us as the values police and spreading everything on the media stage. The German delegation took neither of these to heart and instead decided to take an embarrassing lurching course," Hanning complained in an essay for the "Tagesspiegel". This gave the impression that marketing interests took precedence over supposed convictions, and "show and appearances over the credible interest in initiating changes".
At the World Cup in Qatar, political issues such as the discussion about the "One Love" captain's armband temporarily overshadowed the sporting events. The German Football Association and other European national associations wanted to use the multicolored armband as a symbol of diversity and against discrimination. However, the world governing body FIFA prohibited this at very short notice and threatened sporting sanctions without ever specifying them.
In terms of sport, Baumgart made a development at the highly controversial world tournament that international football had moved closer together. "It should be recognized that there is now good training and playing around the world," said the 50-year-old. Baumgart found that Europe was not the center of the football world.
