VfL Osnabrück reports on last season’s duels before the third league opener against MSV Duisburg. MSV had to react to this.

On Friday (7 p.m.), the 3rd division kicks off the new season. VfL Osnabrück expects MSV Duisburg – more than 13,000 tickets have already been sold in the run-up to the match – 1400 MSV supporters are expected at Bremer Brücke.

As is customary, the two clubs also report on the upcoming 90 minutes in the run-up to the match. The VfL also took a close look at the duels from last season. The game in Duisburg was abandoned at the time. A racism incident was in the offing.

On 19 December 2021, the match was abandoned prematurely at 0-0 because Osnabrück player Aaron Opoku had allegedly been insulted by a spectator. There were international reactions to this – and a verdict that could not confirm the accusations. After the investigation was completed, the police declared that there had probably not been a racist incident after all. The suspicion against the 55-year-old accused, who was assigned to the MSV camp, had not been substantiated.

MSV takes a stand on VfL preliminary reporting

Despite this, VfL reported a racist incident in the run-up to Friday’s 90 minutes against the “Zebras”. It says: “The abandoned second leg, which was overshadowed by a racist incident against Aaron Opoku, goes down in football history with a maximum negative background. In the replay, however, the Osnabrück eleven won 6:3 thanks to a strong performance.

A passage that MSV could not let stand in this way. In a statement, the Meiderich side stressed. “In the published preliminary report, the Osnabrückers make reference to all encounters between the two teams in the past season. Since the abandonment of the match from December 2021 is also part of the 2021/22 season, reference is also made to the “racist incident” in this regard, among other things. MSV is keen to make it clear that the accusation of racism against the accused MSV supporter could not be confirmed by the police investigation. Here at MSV and at the Duisburg location, diversity, tolerance and respectful coexistence are lived. Understanding that racism begins with the feelings of the person affected, and only a few of us can put ourselves in the position of those who are repeatedly confronted with such situations, it is not up to us or any third party to judge the actual feelings of someone else. “