March 14 – Austria head coach Ralf Rangnick has dropped three players from his squad for their March friendlies after their involvement in homophobic chanting following last month’s Vienna derby.
“(The players must) seriously address this issue and understand what it means for people when they are publicly insulted and discriminated against in such a way,” said Rangnick.
“That is something I will not tolerate in my team. Everything we stand for with the national team is diametrically opposed to the other end of the value scale.”
Rapid Vienna’s Guido Burgstaller, Marco Grull and Niklas Hedl were among those filmed singing homophobic chants after their club’s 3-0 win over Austria Vienna at the end of last February.
Rangnick decided the drop the trio – in his squad in October – for the upcoming fixtures against Slovakia and Turkey. The chants were shared on social media at the time and the club issued an apology that included comments from Burgstaller.
“Unfortunately, we cannot undo this mistake. In this way, we would also like to clearly distance ourselves from any discrimination and homophobia and apologise to anyone who we have directly or indirectly offended through our behaviour. We are aware that we have a role model effect, and unfortunately, we absolutely did not live up to this role with our actions after the game,” said Burgstaller.
Grull took to social media to apologise.
This summer the Austrians will face France, Netherlands and a playoff winner in Group D at Euro 2024. Once of Manchester United, Rangnick took charge of Austria in 2022 and guided the team to qualification for Euro 2024.
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