Zurich (dpa) - Solidarity gestures by footballers in connection with the death of black American George Floyd should go unpunished at FIFA's request.
The World Football Association said in a statement that "common sense" should be used in this context and that the circumstances should be taken into account, the US news agency AP reported. FIFA also wrote that it understood "the depth of feelings and concerns that many footballers express regarding the tragic circumstances of the George Floyd case".
At the weekend, professionals in the Bundesliga games had promoted Floyd's death, who died last week as a result of a brutal police operation in Minneapolis. Weston McKennie from Schalke 04 showed outrage and sympathy on an armband, Mönchengladbach's Marcus Thuram symbolically fell to his knees, Dortmund's Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi demanded "Justice for George Floyd" on T-shirts.
According to the statutes of the German Football Association, such actions are prohibited. The DFB announced that the control committee would deal with it. "It remains to be seen whether there will be sanctions in the present cases," said DFB Vice President Rainer Koch. The review by the control committee is about "determining whether the game and the field are the right place for these actions".
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