Mainz 05 and El Ghazi Fail to Resolve Dismissal Dispute in Mediation

The Dutch footballer of Moroccan origin was not present at the session. The parties will only meet again in court on June 19.

The German club terminated El Ghazi’s contract in early November, after the player repeatedly expressed his support for Palestinians on social media during the conflict between Israel and Hamas. El Ghazi, who previously played for clubs like Ajax and PSV, had signed a contract with Mainz in September, but only played 51 minutes spread over three games.

According to his lawyer, El Ghazi is losing a monthly income of 150,000 euros due to his dismissal. Mainz, on the other hand, claims to want to recover more than half a million euros from El Ghazi due to the violations he would have committed. Mainz 05 was co-founded in 1905 by Eugen Salomon, a German of Jewish origin and the club’s first president.

El Ghazi was fired by Mainz on November 3, but maintained his statements on Instagram. "Always defend what is right, even if it means having to stand alone. The loss of my income is nothing compared to the hell unleashed on innocent and vulnerable people in Gaza. Stop the killings!", reacted El Ghazi on Instagram, followed by 900,000 people.

"My position remains the same. I am against war and violence, against the murder of innocent civilians, against discrimination, against Islamophobia, against anti-Semitism, against genocide, against apartheid, against occupation and against oppression. I do not regret my position and I do not dissociate myself from what I have said. [...] It can never be justified that more than 3,500 children have been killed in Gaza in the last three weeks. How can we, as human beings, remain silent when, according to ’Save the Children’, a child is killed every ten minutes? That’s nine children during the time I play a game. And this number is increasing every day. Me and the rest of the world must not be silent. We must call on people to end the killings in Gaza," said the striker.