But, he added, the decision facing FC Bundestag was “a symbol of the larger debate about how to deal with the AfD and how to draw boundaries.”
For now, the team is on hold. The new Bundestag is set to meet on Tuesday for the first time since the election. The club has already postponed its next match, which was scheduled for Wednesday.
Özdemir, the current captain, told the FT that the team would hold a meeting after the new parliament convenes to decide how to proceed.
But he said he was confident that the ban would be upheld, even if it required changing the statutes. “We have to keep this red line,” he said. “The AfD is not a party like the others.”
Partai sentris khawatir bahwa memberikan kesempatan kepada AfD untuk berpartisipasi akan menandai awal dari lereng yang licin, kata Gross. “Itulah hal yang mereka takuti: bahwa AfD melihatnya sebagai langkah berikutnya menuju normalisasi. Sebuah batu kecil yang diambil dari firewall.”