"Take a stand"

Rangnick warns: “Be vigilant in the face of right-wing extremism!”

Ralf Rangnick(Bild: Mario Urbantschitsch)

Even in the hour of his great success at the European Football Championship, ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick is once again calling for vigilance against right-wing extremist tendencies in Europe.

"We are living in such turbulent times in which you can no longer say that one thing is sport and the other is politics, and the two things have nothing to do with each other," the German emphasized on Thursday evening on ORF's "ZiB 2". He believes it is important for people to take a stand in public.

"... you really can't help him!"
"The history of our two countries, Austria and Germany, should be lesson enough for us," said Rangnick. "If, after 100 years, we still haven't understood what has regularly led us to ruin and led to the worst upheavals imaginable, then we really can't help them."

"We have to be very, very vigilant on the right"
The current developments in the two countries cannot be condoned. "I stand by my statement: we have to be very, very vigilant, especially in this right eye."

Rangnick cited Austria's "non-playing captain" David Alaba, who is spending the entire European Championship with the ÖFB team despite tearing his cruciate ligament, as a prime example of multi-ethnic cohesion.

(Bild: APA)

"Almost unimaginable in all other countries!"
"I think it's almost unimaginable in any other country that a player who is currently in rehab would sacrifice his entire vacation because he wants to be with the team, because he wants to support us with all his experience."

Ralf Rangnick and David Alaba(Bild: GEPA)

That's not just how he sees it in soccer, the 65-year-old emphasized. "That's also how I imagine it in normal life, that we appreciate each other."