Borussia Dortmund’s LGBTQ+ fans have expressed their disappointment at the club’s £25million summer signing of Felix Nmecha, for sharing homophobic and transphobic social media posts earlier this year.
Manchester City academy graduate Nmecha, who joined Dortmund last week after a fruitful two-year spell at Wolfsburg, has previously been criticised for his ‘homophobic’ and transphobic behaviour on social media and appears to disagree with the club’s anti-discrimination values.
In February, the German midfielder shared an Instagram post of right-wing American commentator Matt Walsh mocking the parent of a transgender child.
Nmecha, a devout Christian, was faced with a social media backlash and subsequently claimed to disagree with ‘the majority of what Matt Walsh says and how he mocks people’. He did not, however, offer an apology.
In June, he got himself in trouble again after posting a story to social media which compared Pride Month to worshipping the devil. The 22-year-old swiftly deleted the Instagram story and failed to address the anti-inclusivity accusations instantly.
He later posted an unrelated picture to Instagram of him embracing VfB Stuttgart defender Josha Vagnoman in a shirt embellished with rainbow colours.
‘In my footballing journey so far I’ve met people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities and beliefs. It’s important that I make it clear that I genuinely love ALL people and don’t discriminate against anyone,’ he wrote alongside the picture.
However, several Black and Yellow fans are unhappy at their club’s decision to sign Nmecha.
Larissa, die-hard Dortmund supporter and editor of digital fanzine Schwatzgelb, told The Athletic: ‘We’ve been getting many messages from people affected who are disappointed and can’t believe what’s happened.
‘Dortmund have made a reputation for themselves as role models fighting discrimination in recent years, but they don’t quite understand what the problem is and what this means.’
The season-ticket holder, who describes herself as queer, claimed she would not attend Signal Iduna Park next season if the club or player fails to make amends.
After getting wind of Nmecha’s potential move to Dortmund earlier this summer, an anti-discrimination supporters’ group called ballspiel.vereint went to the BVB headquarters and implored the club to consider their values before completing the signing.
Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and president Reinhold Lunow assured that Nmecha’s beliefs were in line with the club’s in a joint statement on Monday.
‘He completely convinced us during intensive talks that he does not hold any transphobic or homophobic beliefs.
‘Felix himself underlined that he respects and loves all people irrespective of skin color, religion or sexual orientation.
‘Felix is very young, his religion is deeply rooted and he – like all of us – is certainly not without faults.’
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