BERLIN — Despite being threatened with exclusion from Germany’s northeast regional league, Babelsberg is refusing to pay a fine in a case that has turned a spotlight on anti-Semitism in German soccer. Cottbus fans also performed Nazi salutes, as can be seen in a video circulated by the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism. Both clubs were fined for the trouble, which included the use of pyrotechnics by both sides and attempts to storm the pitch from Cottbus supporters. Babelsberg is the biggest soccer club in Potsdam, just to the southwest of Berlin and capital of the state of Brandenburg. Some feel the case highlights a tendency to brush over right-wing hooliganism and anti-Semitism in German soccer despite recent incidents.

Source: National Post February 08, 2018 12:45 UTC