Germany’s Olympic men’s football team walked off the pitch with five minutes remaining of their friendly against Honduras after one of their players was allegedly racially abused.
The German Football Association said on its website that Saturday morning’s game in Wakayama was abandoned with the score at 1-1 after Hertha Berlin defender Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused, with all of Stefan Kuntz’s side leaving the field following the incident.
“When one of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option,” said Kuntz, as reported by www.dfb.de.
ℹ️ The game has ended 5 minutes early with the score at 1-1. The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused.#WirfuerD #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/D85Q63Ynr9
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) July 17, 2021
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The Honduras national team said on their Twitter account that the incident was the result of a “misunderstanding”.
The match, which was due to comprise of three thirds of 30 minutes each, saw Honduras take a 21st-minute lead through Douglas Martinez before Felix Uduokhai equalised for Germany in the 84th minute, just before the team left the pitch.
The match was a warm-up for Germany’s Olympic campaign which starts on Thursday against Brazil, while the other teams in Group D are Saudi Arabia and the Ivory Coast.
Honduras are in Group B at the Games, alongside New Zealand, South Korea and Romania, who they play in their opening game on Thursday.
