Germany defender Joshua Kimmich has reacted with great displeasure to a survey shortly before the home Euro 2024, according to which one in five Germans would prefer to see more white players in the Germany national team again.
"Anyone who grew up playing football knows that this is absolute nonsense. Football in particular is an example of how you can unite different nations, different skin colours and different religions," Kimmich said on Saturday.
"That's also what our team is about. I would miss many, many players very, very much if they weren't here. That is absolutely racist and has no place in our dressing room," he added.
Germany's provisional 27-man squad for the Euro 2024 this summer includes a number of players with a migratory background.
In a survey conducted by Infratest dimap on behalf of broadcasters WDR for the "Unity and Justice and Diversity" documentary, 21% of respondents said that they would prefer to see more white players the Germany national team.
The majority of respondents (65%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with that statement.
"When you consider that we're facing a home Euros, it's absurd to ask such a question when it's actually about uniting the whole country. It's all about achieving great things together," Kimmich said.
The survey was commissioned because during filming for the documentary, the producers were faced with racist statements about the national team, WDR said.
The Germany squad arrived at their Euro 2024 headquarters in Herzogenaurach on Friday ahead of tune-up matches against Ukraine on Monday and Greece on June 7.
Germany start the home tournament against Scotland on June 14. They also face Hungary and Switzerland in the group stage as they hope to go all the way to the final in Berlin on July 14.
