German football team leave the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha ‘suffers alleged racist abuse’

German football team leave the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha ‘suffers alleged racist abuse from a Honduras player’ with Tokyo Olympics warm-up match ending early

Germany‘s Olympic football team have walked off the pitch during a friendly against Honduras after alleged racial abuse directed at their player Jordan Torunarigha.

With the score at 1-1 in the Tokyo Olympics warm-up match against the central American team, the Germany players left the field together five minutes after defender Torunarigha was reported to have been racially insulted.

German football journalist Kerry Hau has indicated the insult came from a Honduras player.

Germany’s players have walked off of the pitch during an Olympic warm-up match against Hoduras after alleged racial abuse aimed at defender Jordan Torunarigha

A tweet from Germany’s official Twitter read: ‘The game has ended 5 minutes early with the score at 1-1. The Germany players left the pitch after Jordan Torunarigha was racially abused.’ 

Coach Stefan Kuntz meanwhile added: ‘When one of our players is racially abused, playing on is not an option.’

Honduras however insisted it was a misunderstanding, themselves tweeting: ‘The game was abandoned on 87 minutes due to the fact that a German player alleged an racist insult on the part of a Honduran national team.

‘On the subject, the Honduran national team expresses that the situation passes as a misunderstanding on the pitch.’

The match was level thanks to a Felix Uduokhai equalising goal for Germany after Douglas Martinez had given Honduras the lead. 

All of Germany's players were reported to have walked off five minutes before the end

All of Germany’s players were reported to have walked off five minutes before the end

Teams are putting in their final preparations ahead of the start of Tokyo 2020 next week, with the football event kicking off on July 21 and the final taking place on August 7. 

It is not the first time Torunarigha has been the subject of racial abuse after the Hertha Berlin player was targeted by Schalke fans during a German Cup encounter in February last year.

The German side were subsequently fined £42,000 for the incident by the DFB. 

It follows the racial abuse directed at England players Marcus Rashford (left), Jadon Sancho (centre left) and Bukayo Saka (right) after their Euro 2020 Final defeat against Italy

It follows the racial abuse directed at England players Marcus Rashford (left), Jadon Sancho (centre left) and Bukayo Saka (right) after their Euro 2020 Final defeat against Italy

Racism in football has been a prominent issue this summer following the abuse on social media of England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford after missing penalties in the Euro 2020 Final.

Saka, a 19-year-old who missed the decisive penalty, issued a powerful statement against the horrific abuse he suffered online.

‘There is no place for racism or hate of any kind in football or in any area of society and to the majority of people coming together to call out the people sending these messages, by taking action and reporting these comments to the police and by driving out the hate by being kind to one another, we will win’, Saka wrote on Thursday.