Czech national players won’t kneel before EURO matches

Czech footballers will not be kneeling before matches at the EURO in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Instead, they will point to the UEFA Respect banner on their jerseys.

The whole cabinet has agreed on this position. Czech footballers will not kneel before matches at the EURO and will instead point to the UEFA Respect banner on their jerseys. The Czech team does not intend to interfere with politics in sport.

“We want to focus purely on football and the sporting side of our participation in the European Championship. I understand that society perceives such topics as important, and the national team also condemns any form of racism, but we have already discussed the whole matter with the team during the March meeting. They have chosen our own solution and we will not change this attitude,” said coach Jaroslav Šilhavý in a press release.

The new president of the FAČR Petr Fousek also expressed his support. “After my election, I consulted with the national team leadership on the issue of a possible gesture of our national team in the fight against racism and I supported the chosen solution. We are in complete agreement on this issue ,” said Fousek.

Recently, there has been an increasing number of disapproving reactions to footballers kneeling before matches. Russian fans, for example, loudly booed Belgians who knelt to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement at the ongoing European Championships.

The Czech team starts the EURO with a match against Scotland on Monday, followed by duels with Croatia and England.

Source: Czech national team press release