Bastian Schweinsteiger won a World Cup with Germany in 2014. Now, a comment he made about African football during this year’s tournament has put him in the middle of a different kind of fight.
The former Manchester United and Bayern Munich midfielder, working as a pundit for German broadcaster ARD, described the style of play on the continent as “a bit wild, a bit unorthodox and perhaps not so conditioned by tactics.” That assessment did not sit well with Ivory Coast manager Emerse Fae, whose team just faced Germany in the group stage and lost 2-1.
Fae responded after his side’s 2-0 win over Curacao, and he didn’t hold back.
“I think it’s sad,” Fae said, according to the BBC. He went on to call the comment potentially racist, saying “if we were calling a spade a spade” that’s what it would be. He praised Schweinsteiger’s playing career but expressed deep disappointment in the man behind the microphone.
Fae’s full response and what it says about the state of punditry
The Ivory Coast boss didn’t just dismiss Schweinsteiger’s take. He broke it down. Fae said African teams are technical and tactical, not just physical. He argued that the old stereotype of African soccer being purely athletic and disorganized is outdated, and hearing it from a respected former player made it sting more.
“All I can show is that on the pitch African teams are not just physical, we are technical and tactical,” Fae said. He added that he hopes Schweinsteiger’s comment was just clumsy rather than a reflection of genuine bias.
“If that’s what he thinks, he is free to do so,” Fae said.
Ivory Coast finished the group stage with six points, same as Germany, and advanced to the knockout rounds. So Fae has some results to back up his frustration.
Schweinsteiger, for his part, has not responded publicly to the backlash. ARD has not issued a statement either. But the comments are getting traction online, with fans and analysts noting how quickly a casual remark from a World Cup winner can turn into a much bigger conversation about respect and representation in the sport.
Schweinsteiger played 35 games for Manchester United, scoring twice, and won the FA Cup in 2016. He later played for Chicago Fire in MLS. His biggest achievement remains lifting the World Cup trophy in 2014, which makes this whole situation feel a little more awkward. Nobody expected the guy who scored the winner in that final to be explaining a comment about “wild” African football a decade later.
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