Mainz officially cut ties with El Ghazi

FSV Mainz 05 announced that they had opted to terminate the contract of suspended Dutch-Moroccan attacker Anwar El Ghazi on Friday evening. 

After suspending the player indefinitely due to a controversial social media post a little over two weeks ago, FSV Mainz 05 have confirmed the termination of Dutch attacker Anwar El Ghazi’s contract. The 28-year-old had issued an apology over a statement published to his instagram feed and, for a time, it appeared as if the attacker might rejoin the squad.

In a fresh post to his feed some days ago, however, El Ghazi distanced himself from the apology and made more inflammatory statements related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mainz issued a statement on Monday saying that El Ghazi’s case would be “re-examined”. The decision to give the player his outright release came five days later.

El Ghazi is also facing a criminal investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Koblenz. The inflammatory nature of El Ghazi’s words – as pertain to Israel – runs afoul of specifically outlawed hate speech in the post-war Bundesrepublik. The district office confirmed that El Ghazi’s case would be examined to determine if the conduct constitutes a criminal offense.

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