Mainz Suspends Dutch Player El Ghazi Over Pro-Palestine Post, Refuses Apology

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." Anwar El Ghazi’s posting of this famous slogan on Instagram on Sunday provoked the anger of the Mainz management. The German club suspended him indefinitely. "Mainz has decided to exclude Anwar El Ghazi from training and matches," the Bundesliga club announced in a statement, saying it had taken this decision following an "in-depth discussion" with the player. "His German team tried to pressure him to post a video in which he would apologize for his position, which he firmly refused and decided to leave Germany and return to his hometown of Rotterdam, the Netherlands," El Ghazi’s father told Winwin, a football-focused media.

"Anwar told me he was very affected, he cried a lot. He met the Mainz board of directors and told them he would not go back on his solidarity with the children of Gaza," continued Mohammed El Ghazi. The 28-year-old player and his family have returned to Rotterdam, which presages the end of his adventure at Mainz. He arrived on a free transfer at the start of the season after a short stint at PSV Eindhoven.

Like El Ghazi, his compatriot Noussair Mazraoui was also criticized for his message of support for Palestine. Bayern Munich waited for his return from Africa, where he participated in the friendly match between the Moroccan team and Côte d’Ivoire (1-1) and the Morocco-Liberia (3-0) match counting for the last round of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2023) qualifiers, to have an in-depth discussion with him. Measures were then taken to end the controversy sparked by the Moroccan player’s posts on Instagram.