It wasn’t just FC Schalke 04’s first-round match that was marred by racism. 1. FC Kaiserslautern was also affected.

There would certainly have been enough sporting reasons to talk about 1. FC Kaiserslautern’s 7-0 win over RSV Eintracht Stahnsdorf. The second division side, which only last week beat FC Schalke 04 1-0, is now comfortably through to the second round of the DFB Cup.

But, similar to Schalke’s first-round match against 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, the purely sporting aspect—Schalke’s 1-0 win after extra time—took a back seat. Just like in Leipzig, there was a racist incident in Potsdam.

In the middle of the second half, a visiting player from 1. FC Kaiserslautern, who was warming up on the sideline, was insulted. Thanks to the quick intervention of spectators and security services at the Karl Liebknecht Stadium in Potsdam, the perpetrator was identified. The game continued without interruption.

“There’s always some idiot around,” said Lautern coach Torsten Lieberknecht, who praised the intervention of the Stahnsdorf fans: “This is not what Stahnsdorf stands for, nor how we were welcomed here.”

Lieberknecht did not name the player involved and sought to calm the situation: “Now it’s time to take a deep breath.” Stahnsdorf’s press spokesman Kay Seifarth emphasized that the club would investigate the incident thoroughly. The name of the player who was involved in the Schalke game was difficult to keep secret. Christopher Antwi-Adjei himself brought the incident to the referee’s attention. He had been insulted from the stands while taking a throw-in. He did not want to repeat the words that had been used after the game. “That was racism. It has no place on the pitch or in everyday life. I don’t even want to repeat the words. I find it disappointing. These are isolated individuals in the stadium who think they are something better. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but I did signal to the linesman that something had happened,” he said after the game instead. with dpa