By Cuneyt Karadag
BERLIN (AA) - Germans on Sunday slammed a racist TV survey which asked the participants if they want to see "more white players" on the national football team.
The Sports Inside program, broadcast on the West German Radio and Television Corporation (WDR), made the poll ahead of the European Football Championship (Euro 2024) that will be hosted by Germany in June and July.
One in five people who participated in the survey wanted to see more "white players" on the German national team. Additionally, 17% of the participants said it was "sad" that the national team captain is Ilkay Gundogan, who is of Turkish descent.
These sentiments, especially those directed towards head coach Julian Nagelsmann, drew reactions from other football players.
Speaking ahead of the friendly game against Ukraine, Nagelsmann said that he is shocked that a public broadcaster asked participants in a survey if they would prefer more white footballers in the squad.
"We have to ask what are we doing at the moment? We in Germany are doing very well, and when we say something like that, I think it’s crazy how we turn a blind eye and block out such things," he said.
"I thought about it briefly and I have the feeling that we need to wake up a bit," he added.
German midfielder Joshua Kimmich described the questionnaire as "racist" a day earlier.
"Anyone who's grown up with football knows this is absolute nonsense. Football in particular is a good example of how you can unite different nations, skin colors, and religions," Kimmich said.
Meanwhile, the poll of 1,304 randomly chosen participants was commissioned for German state broadcaster ARD’s documentary “Unity and Justice and Diversity”, which will be shown on Wednesday.
Some 21% of those surveyed said they would prefer if more white players were playing for Germany. In contrast, 65% of those surveyed disagreed with these statements.
*Writing by Emre Asikci in Istanbul