China U20s' first game in German fourth division marred by fan protests | OneFootball

China’s U20 team began life in Germany’s Regionalliga Südwest with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of TSV Schott Mainz on Saturday.

However, the match was delayed for almost 30 minutes when, during the first half, the Chinese players stopped playing after a Tibetan flag had been unfurled by some of the 400 spectators in the stands.

China has refused to recognise Tibet as an independent state for over 700 years and speaking after the match, Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) vice president Ronny Zimmermann expressed his disappointment at the provocative protest while also maintaining the German right to freedom of expression.

“We want to be good hosts, of course, so we are not happy about these events,” he said.

“We had pointed out again and again to our contact on the Chinese side that the games will take place within the framework of freedom of expression in Germany. We believe hanging a flag in the stadium is freedom of expression.

“We will look again at the conversation with the Chinese delegation on this topic and recommend them to deal more calmly with such actions.

“Conversely, we condemn the deliberate provocation against our guests.”

In preparation for the 2020 Olympic Games, the Chinese FA struck a five-year deal with the DFB during the summer which will see their U20 squad to play friendly fixtures against teams from Germany’s fourth tier from the second half of this season onwards.

Only 19 clubs qualified for the league this year, prompting the DFB to explore other ways of filling the one remaining space. Each club who plays against China will receive €15,000-per-match but the results will not count towards the league standings.

However, perhaps understandably, the move has not been universally applauded.

Protests from supporters of the likes of Waldhof Mannheim and TuS Koblenz saw those clubs announce they would be boycotting the proposed matches against China, while talk of there being a consultation between the DFB and supporter groups before any decision was made failed to materialise, further increasing the feeling of resentment towards the move in some quarters.

A good example of said resentment is the satirical Twitter account ‘China U20 Ultras SW’ and the below tweet which reads: “F*** tradition. China U20 Ultras always and everywhere.”

Germany is a nation which prides itself on the relatively low level of financial influence on its football, but speaking ahead of Saturday’s game, Schott manager Till Pleuger suggested the money being offered by the Chinese FA was simply too good to turn down.

“We can judge the sporting importance only after we play,” he said.

“The media interest is already enormously large and for us as a small club, the financial incentive was the decisive point.”

The Chinese team are managed by former Energie Cottbus, MSV Duisburg and 1860 Munich midfielder Shao Jiayi, who feels the move could see the standard of football take a huge leap forward in China.

“The project is very important,” he said.

“It is the first measure of cooperation between Germany and China, which was adopted in November 2016.

“We are thankful to all clubs that compete against us. Without their support, we would not have come to Germany.”