The German Football Federation (DFB) "has confirmed it has begun an investigation into the racial abuse" that took place during a 2nd Bundesliga game between 1860 Munich and FC Ingolstadt at the Allianz Arena, according to Stephan Uersfeld of ESPN FC. Ingolstadt defender Danny da Costa, born in Germany to Angolan and Congolese parents, said that "he had been abused throughout his side’s 1-0 defeat to the Lions on Sunday." Da Costa said, "Whenever the ball came near me, there were monkey chants. That was a pretty bad feeling. In this form, it is something I have never experienced before." Ingolstadt's Ralph Gunesch "also addressed the issue on his Facebook page." He wrote, "To persistently call a dark-skinned opponent ‘n*****’ and urge him to go ‘back to the jungle’ and accompany that with monkey chants only shows that your IQ is just above that of burnt toast." 1860 Munich Exec Robert Schäfer said that "the club had already singled out a perpetrator." He said, "Any abuse of this type has no place at our games. We were able to identify the person and have reported his behaviour. Moreover, we immediately penalized him with a stadium ban" (ESPN FC, 8/20). INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Andrew Warshaw reported unlike in many European countries, notably Italy and parts of eastern Europe, "racism is extremely rare in German football" and Da Costa said that he believed it was a one-off. Da Costa: "I never thought that sort of thing would happen to me. I think it was an isolated incident. It is not a specific problem of 1860 fans" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 8/20).
