China’s under-20 team football team isn’t coming back to Germany after pro-Tibet protests

The team was supposed to play 16 matches in Germany

In late November, a football tour of Germany by China’s under-20 team was cut short rather abruptly because the team did not want to continue to deal with Tibetan protesters waving flags around on the sidelines.

While the Chinese and German football associations left the possibility open for the tour continuing again in 2018, that door has now been slammed shut with the two sides formally abandoning the series of friendly matches as the German association has proved unwilling to forbid Tibetan activists from attending the matches.

The trouble began on November 18th when six protesters unfurled Tibetan flags during the middle of a match in the city of Mainz, causing the Chinese team to storm off the field and not return until the flags were put away about a half hour later.

Afterward, China’s Foreign Ministry defended the players’ decision, calling on Germany to ensure “mutual respect” for its Chinese guests. However, Ronny Zimmerman, vice president of the German Football Association (DFB), said that he could not ban the protests, because of this pesky thing called freedom of expression/speech.

The Chinese team skipped its next match and then headed home, forgoing a few more friendlies that had been scheduled before the end of the year as part of the team’s preparations for getting good at football before the 2020 Olympic Games.

Zimmerman said that the suspension of games would give time for the German and Chinese football federations to “discuss the situation calmly and openly and find a reasonable solution.” However, it appeared unlikely that the two sides would ever come to a compromise — there is rarely ever any middle ground when it comes to Tibet.

In an editorial published last month, the People’s Daily accused Germany of standing idly by as a sports game turned into a “political assault against national sovereignty,” asking “does Germany allow for freedom of speech in support of Nazis?”

Originally, the Chinese under-20 team was supposed to play in 16 friendly matches in the German fourth-tier Southwest Regional League as part of a Sino-German “football treaty.” According to the South China Morning Post, German teams in that league made adjustments to accommodate the Chinese team and had been promised money in return. They now want their €15,000 (117,000 yuan) each.

“This issue will be discussed but I can say very clearly that we and other clubs will get the money and we have a valid contract,” SCMP quotes Offenbach chief Christopher Fiori as saying. “We adjusted our schedule [for the China team] and prepared for the match and we will not give up the money.”

Meanwhile, Germany appears to have discovered a formula for beating China in international sports competitions — half a dozen pro-Tibet protesters.