German political party to launch soccer team

BERLIN: The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Saturday announced it was launching its own parliamentary football team, after four of its members were barred from entering the official squad.

Echoing the anti-migrant and anti-Islam party’s name, the football team was baptised “Alternative to FC Bundestag” — a reference to the official parliamentary team.

“The AfD’s footballers will together distance themselves from FC Bundestag,” party leader Hansjoerg Mueller told Der Spiegel weekly. Seven AfD members had sought to join the official parliamentary team, but only three were allowed in.

One of the candidates was barred because he had been served a six month suspended sentence in 2017 for taking part in violent scuffles between football supporters.

Mueller meanwhile rejected accusations of intolerance, saying that the team will play against all footballers “regardless of nationality, religion and skin colour”. The AfD came in third in Germany’s general elections in September, with nearly 13 percent of the vote.