Lots of light and a few shadows – Fan Embassy Austria

The EURO was not only a success on the pitch from an Austrian perspective - until the unfortunate elimination in the round of 16 - but the fairplay Fan Embassy team also drew a positive balance of its work in Germany.
 
On the one hand, there were isolated discriminatory and right-wing extremist statements from fans of the ÖFB team. On the other hand, fans and players also actively opposed this, for example with the “Love Austria, Hate Racism” banner at the Netherlands match or the clear messages from Ralf Rangnick and Michael Gregoritsch against right-wing ideas and the division of society. The Austrian fan embassy program also made a contribution to a European Championship of diversity and less discrimination.

Fan Embassy at all ÖFB matches

Under the motto “For a European Championship of fans and without discrimination”, fairplay, as a national member of the UEFA partner “Football Supporters Europe” (FSE), and in cooperation with the host cities and the Coordination Office for Fan Projects (KOS), organized a so-called Fan Embassy at the EURO. The Fan Embassy Austria team accompanied the national team fans during the three group matches and the round of 16 in Leipzig.
 
In the city centers of Düsseldorf (Schadowplatz) and Berlin (Breitscheidplatz), a branded container served as a central point of contact for questions and concerns of the traveling fans. We came into direct contact with over 2,000 fans through interactive methods at these contact points (micro-soccer, disc tennis), the distribution of information material and by accompanying larger fan activities (fan marches, fan tournaments, etc.) and at the Austrian national team's matches. Visitors to the Fans' Embassy also included ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer, Austria's ambassador to Germany Michael Linhart and former Chelsea player Paul Eliott as part of the UEFA EURO 2024 Human Rights Advisory Board.

Fan-specific supporting program: curve discussion and special guided tours

The “Fan Embassy Austria” also organized a fan-specific supporting programme. On the day before the Netherlands match, around 60 fans (of the Austrian national team and various German clubs) attended the discussion “Curves on the move. Movement in the curves”. The discussion was organized together with Fanprojekte Berlin and ballesterer magazine.
 
At the exhibition “Sport. Crowds. Power. Football under the Nazis” exhibition in Berlin's Olympiapark, fairplay prevention organized three special tours for fans together with what matters. The ÖFB mobilized a group of 50 fans from ten different fan clubs for the event on 23 June. ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer was also a guest.

Part of the Fan Embassy team attended the conference on June 21 entitled “Football and Remembrance. Learning From the Past to Strengthen our Future Through Sports.” The conference was organized by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, what matters and the World Jewish Congress.

Cases of racism and discrimination

One of the Fan Embassy's measures was to set up a helpline and an online reporting option for cases of discrimination. After every match day, the fan embassy team was in contact with the ÖFB fan representatives.
 
The fan embassy team registered isolated right-wing extremist, racist, sexist and homophobic statements by people with a fan connection to the Austrian national team.

Homophobia in Düsseldorf

At the first match in Düsseldorf against France (17. 6.), a group wearing Austrian jerseys sang the homophobic chant “Kilian Mbappe is homosexual, homosexual” on the way to the stadium on the U78 subway line. However, the majority of people in the carriage did not get on board.
In the Düsseldorf Arena itself, there were isolated homophobic chants against Antoine Griezmann in the Austria fans' block (south), with France's number 7 being called a “faggot” or “woarmer”.

Banned tattoos

While accompanying the Austrian fan march on the banks of the Rhine, a member of the fan embassy discovers a right-wing extremist tattoo. The number combination “1488” can be seen on the right upper arm of an Austrian supporter. According to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, “1488” is the combination of the “Fourteen Words” and the cipher for the Hitler salute or the “88 Precepts” (= “88 principles”) of the American right-wing extremist David Lane. 1488' is the most widespread cipher in the far-right scene internationally.

Right-wing extremist & racist incidents in Berlin and Leipzig

The “Defend Europe” banner, which was presented in the Austrian Fans First Sector at the Olympic Stadium during the match against Poland on June 21, caused a major media stir. The right-wing extremist activists symbolically chose the 88th minute, “88” being a code for “HH”, Heil Hitler. The professional reaction and quick intervention of the ÖFB fan representatives and stewards ended the action after a few minutes. “Defend Europe” is a central slogan of the extreme right and calls for the ‘defense’ of Europe against Islam and ‘refugees’.
 
UEFA also reacted quickly and adapted the stadium regulations following this incident. The slogan “Defend Europe” is now banned as an explicitly political statement. This was also possible thanks to the good cooperation between Fan Embassy Austria, Fanprojekt Berlin, FSE, UEFA and ÖFB.
After the action, the ÖFB was very concerned: “The national team and the association clearly stand for tolerance, diversity and integration in all areas of our society” and “inflammatory messages like this have no place in the national team's fan sector”, it said in a statement. It was emphasized that the banner was not part of the national team's organized fan scene.

A report by Swiss television channel SRF before the round of 16 match between Austria and Turkey in Leipzig caused quite a stir. During the broadcast from the fan meeting point on Richard Wagner Platz, a small group of supporters of the ÖFB team shouted the slogan “Germany to the Germans, foreigners out” to the tune of the song “L'amour toujours”. At Leipzig Central Station, around 10 fans in Austrian jerseys also intoned the Gigi D'Agostino song, including “Deutschland den Deutschen”, but without “Ausländer raus”. Before the game, the fan embassy team observed many positive encounters between Turkish and Austrian fans in the city center of Leipzig. Only at the end of the match were large sections of the Austrian fan sector collectively chanting “Turkish pigs”.
In response to the TV report from Leipzig, “Fankurve Österreich”, an association of active, official ÖFB fan clubs, made it clear that they stand for an “open and tolerant curve” and that such fan chants have no place with them. The song was not sung by the chanters in the stadiums or during fan marches.

Even before the Austria-Poland match in Berlin, a group of Austria fans sang the racist “foreigners out” refrain at the fan meeting point. According to the head of the Berlin Safeguarding Team, a DJ played Gigi D'Agostino's song on the stage at Breitscheidplatz.

Sexism and misogyny as part of fan culture

The most common form of discrimination that could be observed in Germany was of a sexist nature.
 
For example, after the 3:1 win against Poland (21.6.), sexist songs were performed on the S-Bahn return journey from Berlin's Olympic Stadium to Bahnhof Zoo alongside classics such as “Ich singe rot, ich singe weiß” or “I am form Austria”. A group of young Rapid fans sang “Austrianer Hurensöhne” and also the chant “Ja wir sind Wiener, asoziale Wiener, schlafen unter Brücken, schicken unsere Weiber auf den Strich”. A mixed group including Vorarlberg fans then chanted rape fantasies “We have Adi Hütter and f*** your mothers” and then, with the participation of other fans, “We have Konni Laimer and f*** your women”.
 
Sexist and misogynistic chants were also heard during the Austrian fan march before the match against the Netherlands (25 June) from Breitscheidplatz towards Berlin's Olympic Stadium. As the march passed the balcony of a dentist's surgery - on whose balcony there were female employees in doctors' coats - there were loud chants of “undress, undress”. The chant “We have Konni Laimer and we f*** your women....”, which is often sung in Germany, was intoned several times. The Fan Embassy did not notice any reaction from other fans.

Racist copycats

Groups in Austria are also attempting to exploit the European Championships for extreme right-wing purposes. In a video by the Freiheitlichen Jugend Österreich, the ÖFB national team is attacked in a racist manner. “We make sure that the Austrian national team doesn't look like the French team,” boasts a representative of the FPÖ party youth. This is a blunt reference to the skin color of Kevin Danso, Phillipp Mwene or non-playing captain David Alaba. Due to the large number of black players, the French national team is repeatedly the target of racist attacks by right-wing extremists. In 2014, FPÖ politician Andreas Mölzer had to resign after he used a pseudonym to make racist slurs against the young David Alaba as “pitch black”.

At public viewings in Vienna for the Austria-Turkey and Netherlands-Turkey matches, the far-right “wolf salute”, which has been banned in Austria since 2019, was occasionally shown (see: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3263715/ ).

The European Championship Fan Embassy program is largely funded by the Ministry of Sport as part of the “fairplay prevention - contact point against misanthropic ideologies” project.

Information on the Fan Embassy