When the masks fall on the green field

Football has nothing to do with politics, - so say FIFA bureaucrats. Of course, that's why the Championship is held in Russia, in this oasis of democracy. In almost every match, FIFA demonstrates its commitment against racism, but the debates against the Albanian footballers of Switzerland and Mesut Özil in Germany contain racist tones. Banning the eagle is also a racist decision.

"When I score, I'm French, when I don't score, I'm Arab."

Karim Benzema

This is how the Albanian football players of Switzerland, who after the failure against Sweden in the round of XNUMX, faced populist criticism from a part of the Swiss media, seem to have felt like the star of French football. It was said that Granit Xhaka and others were not motivated against the Swedes as they were against the Serbs. The blame for the defeat against Sweden was unilaterally assigned to Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri. Then the general secretary of the Swiss Federation opened the debate on players with dual citizenship. He asked: "Do we need these players?" For this statement, the Swiss football official was severely criticized by the serious media. The functionary himself had said that perhaps his idea of ​​not accepting players with two citizenships in the national team is a "Schnapsidee", which sounds like Albanian: stupidity. ("Schnaps" in German means brandy).

At the heart of the debate, which sometimes contains racist undertones, is Switzerland's fear that some of the future footballing talent could turn their backs on the country, as Ivan Rakitic and Mladen Petric have done, who were set for Croatia. Even with the admission of Kosovo to UEFA and FIFA, the Swiss Football Federation has not always played a constructive role, although the now-deceased president of the Kosovo Football Federation, Fadil Vokrri, who in 2012 had promised to the Swiss that " "Kosovo will not take Shaqiri with his friends." All the noise of the Swiss Federation against footballers with dual citizenship is made to increase the pressure on them to be forced to play for Switzerland.

The "SonntagsZeitung" newspaper wrote at the weekend that the Federation even forces talented players to sign a declaration through which they are obliged to play for Switzerland. According to the newspaper, this clause is legally unsustainable, however, it was formulated as a means of pressure and likely in violation of the relevant laws. Among other things, the players who decide to play for other countries are required to return the money that the Federation has spent on their training – 25 thousand francs per year. The fear of the Swiss Federation has increased after a Swiss has been appointed coach of Kosovo. Likewise, the Albanian Federation is seen as a risk, because it too may try to take a football player.

However, this is no reason to lose control with scandalous statements on dual citizenship as the Swiss Federation did. In the Swiss opinion, there is a reserve from the beginning towards the dominance of foreigners in the national team, although only with "bio-Swiss" this country would not surpass the footballing level of San Marino. Some are angry that Xhaka and his friends do not sing the Swiss national anthem. This may be too much to ask as long as Xhaka and others are scoring goals for Switzerland, but when they are unlucky in a match, then not singing the national anthem is cited as a lack of identification with Switzerland. So, when you score a goal you are Swiss, when you don't score, you are Albanian.

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Football has nothing to do with politics, - so say FIFA bureaucrats. Of course, that's why the Championship is held in Russia, in this oasis of democracy. In almost every match, FIFA demonstrates its commitment against racism, but the debates against the Albanian footballers of Switzerland and Mesut Özil contain racist tones. In 2010, the American newspaper "The New York Times" published an article on "Özil the German" as an example of the integration of foreigners in Germany. Now in Germany, Özil is the "scapegoat", the scapegoat whose head must be cut off for Germany's failure in the World Cup. The layer of civility is probably nowhere thinner than in football: today you're a hero, tomorrow you're a traitor. What happened? Before the Championship, footballers Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gündogan took a picture with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The German media criticized this meeting. The message was this: two German national team players dare not meet a politician like Erdoğan, who has insulted the German political leadership by calling it Nazi, and who relentlessly pursues any of his critics, including German journalists. Özil has refused to talk about his meeting with Erdoğan and this has only increased the suspicions against him. Politicians of the German nationalist party "Alternative für Deutschland" have hit him under the belt with racist language. After the failure in Russia and the German team's return home, Özil was also attacked by Oliver Bierhoff, manager of the German Football Federation.

The opinion probably has very high expectations from the footballers. They are seen as ambassadors in long panties who should present the country to the world opinion in the best possible way. But some of them do not meet these expectations. Success is like a drug: any player in 25 years is a multimillionaire, with 1 million followers on Twitter or Facebook, with social status - these experiences make him resistant to any advice.

However, the criticism against the Albanian footballers of Switzerland and against Mesut Özil is hypocritical. Albanians are unfairly criticized because they make the eagle gesture, which with the latest FIFA decision has almost been criminalized as a symbol. Özil can be criticized for a lack of political sensitivity - but what a charlatan criticism is that of Lothar Matthäus, who criticizes Mesut Özil for dating an autocrat, while Matthäus himself praises Vladimir Putin to his knees. Perhaps even Matthäus thinks like former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who once said that Putin is a "democrat as pure as a tear". Now Schröder is the Kremlin's biggest lobbyist in the world – for a hefty fee, of course.