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After wolf salute scandal: “Football is being abused”

The wolf salute goal celebration by Turkish international Merih Demiral.

(Bild: AFP/APA/Ronny HARTMANN)

The wolf salute goal celebration by Turkish national soccer player Merih Demiral continues to make waves. While UEFA has launched an investigation, there is criticism from Turkey. On the other hand, there are calls for far-reaching consequences. 

Demiral celebrated the second goal in the 2:1 win against Austria with the hand sign of the "Grey Wolves", who are considered nationalist and fascist. In Germany, they are monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The "scandalous goal celebration" is currently being investigated by UEFA. The German Society for Threatened Peoples and the German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser have called for consequences.

Turkey, on the other hand, has had harsh words. In Turkey, the ultra-nationalist MHP is the political representative of the "Gray Wolves" and an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-conservative AKP. MHP leader Devlet Bahceli described the initiation of the UEFA proceedings as a "provocation". The move was "extremely biased and wrong". UEFA was thus jumping on "the bandwagon of evil" of those "who are obviously hostile to the Turks and Turkey".

Demiral scored the fastest goal in the knockout round of a European Championship in Leipzig after just 57 seconds and in the 59th minute. Turkey will now play the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals. Before the press conference, Demiral distributed a photo of the wolf salute cheer via X and wrote: "Happy is he who calls himself a Turk" - a famous quote from the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Kemal Atatürk. "This shows that he wants to make a political statement and is misusing soccer to do so," said author Burak Yilmaz on ARD's "Sportschau".

Not the first incident
Demiral has already been the focus of a political debate once before. At a match in France in 2019, many Turkish national team players had saluted with the military salute in support of the Turkish armed forces involved in the military operation against the Kurdish militia YPG in northern Syria. At the time, there was a brief dispute between Demiral and Kaan Ayhan. Demiral is said to have encouraged his teammate to salute as well.

This shows that he wants to make a political statement and is misusing soccer to do so.

Autor Burak Yilmaz

UEFA stated that further information on the pending investigation would be released in due course. Should Demiral be punished, this would probably have consequences for his availability for the match against the Dutch. Albanian international Mirlind Daku was banned for two matches during the European Championships after inciting fans to chant insults. England international Jude Bellingham is under investigation for a gesture in which he grabbed his crotch.