Werder Bremen’s new signing Marco Grüll and former Bundesliga professional Guido Burgstaller will not be playing for the Austrian national team for the time being after being involved in homophobic chants.
In view of the incident at Grüll’s current club Rapid Vienna, ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick did not nominate the two for the upcoming training camp in Marbella, Spain, or for the tests against Slovakia (March 23 in Bratislava) and Turkey (March 26 in Vienna). Rapid goalkeeper Niklas Hedl, who was also involved in the scandal, is also missing from the squad.
“This is something that I will not tolerate in a team where I am a coach – whether at the club or here with the national team,” emphasized Rangnick at the squad announcement on Monday evening.
Not final
However, his decision against the trio is not final. “In that case, I expect the boys to seriously address this issue and understand what it means for people when they are publicly insulted or discriminated against in such a way,” explained Rangnick.
Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5 Felix Schwarz Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Jan Ehrhardt, Stuttgart Published/Updated: Recommendations: 8
The 25-year-old offensive player Grüll, who currently plays for Rapid, and Burgstaller, who played for FC Schalke 04 and FC St. Pauli, insulted derby opponents Austria Vienna with chants after the 3-0 win on February 25th . Grüll, Burgstaller and other professionals were therefore banned for a few games last week by the criminal senate of the Austrian Bundesliga. In addition, managing director Steffen Hofmann and assistant coach Stefan Kulovits received penalties.
