It was another blow for the German national team: After group-stage exits at the World Cups in Russia and Qatar, Germany suffered another early exit on Monday. This time, at the FIFA World Cup 2026 — a defeat to Paraguay, 4-3 on penalties in the round of 32.
Midfielder Jonathan Tah missed the decisive spot kick, and, within minutes, numerous users wrote racist comments and insults on Tah's social media channels. Then, the following claim went viral:
Claim: Deutsche Welle reported that after Tah's missed penalty, some Germans were collecting signatures calling for a ban on "Africans" and "Muslims" from playing for the national team in the future. This was according to this Spanish-language post on X with more than 2 million views, and this one with more than 900,000 views. The claim also circulated on other platforms such as Facebook.
DW Fact check: False.
DW did not report on an alleged petition against certain playersImage: Facebook
