The aim of the annual street football tournament in Germany's Zwickau is to counteract discrimination and violence, and to teach values of tolerance and fair play.
However, due to a massive fight, the final had to be cancelled; ending in disarray the seventh edition of the "Red Tree" and "Marienthal United 08" organised "United Colours Street Soccer Cup".
Eyewitnesses report that there was a heated controversy between the two final teams - one team was apparently predominantly African and the other consisted mostly of Arab-born players.
One team wanted to use an additional player who had not previously participated, the other team opposed that. During the game, a fight broke out as a result.
Allegedly, an insult on the field was the trigger. A participant is said to have made disparaging remarks about the mother of an opposing player.
Witnesses describe the brawl as scary. Bernhard Riedel, 68, from Oberplanitz , who now lives in Berlin's Neuk"olln migrant suburb says:"I see a lot of controversy every day in Neuk"olln, but something like this on Saturday at Zwickau's main market, I have not seen in my life, I was worried about the life and the lives of the players."
According to co-organiser Ren'e Hahn, there were no injuries, but one could not tolerate that behaviour. "That's not the level we want to play football on," says Hahn. | http://bit.ly/2LmkDqR
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