Erwin Kostedde: ‘Black players will always be second choice in Germany’

In 2006, Gerald Asamoah made history when he became the first African-born German to appear in a World Cup. In 2014, Jerome Boateng became the first Black German to win a World Cup. Today, a Germany XI without players like Serge Gnabry, Antonio Rüdiger, Thilo Kehrer or Leroy Sane is unthinkable.

On the surface at least, German football has come a long way since December 22, 1974, when Erwin Kostedde became the first ever Black German to represent the Nationalmannschaft.

“I never thought that something like this would happen,” Kostedde says in amazement, talking to DW about the number of Black Germans on the national team today. “The Black players all have so much self-confidence. I could never have imagined being so confident when I played.”

Born in Münster, West Germany, in 1946, the son of an absent American soldier and a German mother, Kostedde became the first Black German to break football’s “color barrier.” 

A prolific striker for Preussen Münster, MSV Duisburg, Kickers Offenbach, Hertha Berlin, Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen, Kostedde scored a total of 255 goals in a career which also included two spells in Belgium with Standard Liège.

‘I was alone, I was really alone’

But he failed to find the net for Germany, which perhaps isn’t overly surprising given that he only made three appearances after being thurst into an environment which he remembers as being explicitly racist.

“Playing for Germany as a Black man was a sensation in the press, all eyes on Erwin Kostedde!” he recalls. “But I was alone, I was really alone.”

Kostedde describes how he was put under pressure to portray West Germany in a positive light, especially from the perspective of a Black German. “I gave interviews and [head coach] Helmut Schön told me I should say there’s no racism in Germany. But that’s not true! I told them there is racism and he got mad at me.”

The pressure manifested itself on the pitch. “I had to be better than my white comrades. When I made a mistake it was two, three times worse,” he says. “I couldn’t show my skills, couldn’t play my game because I was always thinking about it.” 

And inside the dressing room, too, Kostedde never felt entirely at ease. “Not everyone liked me, I noticed that. Some didn’t speak to me at all. I could feel that some of them were racists in their behavior.

“And then you don’t get as many balls, and as a center forward you have to get balls. But if somebody has something in his head to some extent, then it’s actually 100%, and then you don’t like playing so much.”

– Read more: Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng: ‘No child is born a racist’

Erwin Kostedde in action for Borussia Dortmund in 1977. He scored 18 goals in 48 games for BVB.

Beckenbauer’s insistence

An honorable exception, however, is made for German legend Franz Beckenbauer. The two were familiar foes in the Bundesliga during the 1970’s, with Kostedde and Kickers Offenbach handing Beckenbauer and Bayern Munich their second worst defeat in club history to date, a 6-0 thumping on the opening day of the 1974/75 season in which Kostedde scored two.

But Kostedde says he has Der Kaiser to thank for his second international appearance, a friendly against England at Wembley in March 1975. “In England, Helmut Schön wasn’t going to play me but Beckenbauer insisted. And I played at Wembley Stadium. Beckenbauer did that. Otherwise I wouldn’t have played,” Kostedde confirms with a nod.

Kostedde was the target of racial slurs on a consistent basis in the 1970’s. Hate speech being hurled at Black footballers in Germany isn’t as common these days, but it does occur. During a German Cup match in 2019, Hertha Berlin’s Jordan Torunarigha was targeted by fans, as were Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gündogan while playing for Germany in Wolfsburg the same year.

Despite their talent and their achievements for both club and country, Kostedde believes they’re still not on equal footing with their white colleagues. “It’s great to see so many Black Germans playing, but they will always be second choice here in Germany, and once they make a mistake, we will see what happens.”

‘It’s the same as it’s always been’

Kostedde keeps away from football these days and is spending his retirement in peace and quiet. But the 74-years-old says he still feels like an outsider in his own country.

In 1990, he was wrongly accused of an armed robbery in Münster and imprisoned for six months after being identified by a witness from an identity parade of one. “We didn’t think it would be possible to find another five Black people in the area,” said the police. After finally being cleared and released, he was paid 3,000 Deutschmark (less than €1,500 or $1,770 today) in compensation, but the damage was done and Kostedde’s confidence was shattered.

“80% of Germans are great people, but 20% don’t want anything good to come to people like me,” he says with conviction. “I feel it when I go out in town, I’m not welcome. It’s the same as it’s always been.”

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/erwin-kostedde-black-players-will-always-be-second-choice-in-germany/a-55239701?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom