After the TV scandal with the Nazi greeting "Sieg Heil", the broadcaster Fox Sports suspended its collaboration with former Dutch international Marco van Basten for a week. Van Basten had triggered criticism and commotion with the saying "Sieg Heil".
The 55-year-old sat on Saturday night at the game Ajax Amsterdam against Heracles Almelo as an expert in the studio of the station. Shortly after an interview on the sidelines with Almelo's German coach Frank Wormuth, the former world-class striker heard the words "Sieg Heil" in the studio. A little later, van Basten apologized for the Nazi vocabulary.
The fee, which is usually given to van Basten, is donated to the Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), according to the broadcaster, in order to promote awareness and knowledge about the history of the Second World War.
It had been a "false joke at the wrong moment," said the transmitter. Fox Sports had already distanced itself clearly from the statement van Bastens.