Jérôme Boateng, candy storms and outrage over a woman soccer announcer: German discourses on race and gender during the 2016 UEFA European Championship
Abstract
This paper analyzes three German political discourses that accompanied the 2016 UEFA European Championship: The debate about the right-wing politician Alexander Gauland’s comments that people would not enjoy having a Boateng as a neighbor; the public’s response to a regional Pegida group’s criticism of featuring childhood pictures of Jérôme Boateng and Ilkay Gündogan on chocolate wrappers; and the public discussion triggered by the decision of a German television channel for the first to let a woman serve as an announcer for games during the European Championship. The comparison of these discourses reveals that sexism is the least challenged form of discrimination in the realm of soccer, while explicit racist acts are more or less widely condemned. And it demonstrates that the form of sexism in soccer is quite different from other areas of society, in that soccer still tolerates overt and explicit sexism. Abbreviation:UEFA - Union of European Football Associations.
Publication Title
Soccer and Society
Recommended Citation
Kaelberer, M. (2020). Jérôme Boateng, candy storms and outrage over a woman soccer announcer: German discourses on race and gender during the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Soccer and Society, 21 (2), 239-250. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2018.1561442
