International Week for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

''Football breaks down borders, builds bridges and connects people - regardless of religious belief, background, skin colour or sexual identity. Over 80,000 football matches take place each week in Germany, bringing together more than nine million sports fans. Approximately 7.1 million people in Germany - 8.5% of the total population - are members of a football club. Our football clubs do so much valuable work to support integration, and the German association will always be there to assist our clubs as they help bring people of different backgrounds and religions together.

In our sport, a mutual sense of respect, fair play and solidarity are of paramount importance. It doesn't matter if it's home or away: we never stand idly by and watch when hate and violence occur. That's why we've decided to support this year's ''International Week for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,'' which begins this Monday. We're calling on all those who love football to show racism and discrimination the red card! We stand together - against racism and in favour of 100 percent human dignity. Human dignity, after all, doesn't come in half measures.''