After red card because of hair pulling: DFB star Kathy Hendrich received hate online

It was probably the most hotly discussed scene of the entire European Football European Championship: Germany’s Kathrin Hendrich (33) moved to the braid on the braid in the quarter-finals against France and saw the red card. To date, the footballer had not commented on the dismissal. Now she talks about her action and its consequences. “I was and am completely at peace with it,” explains Hendrich.

At a cross to the German penalty area in the 13th minute, Hendrich had tightly pulled her opponent Griedge Mbock Bathy on her hair. The Var took in, the referee looked at the scene in the video and showed red because of “violent conduct”, unsportsmanlike behavior.

This triggered a heated debate about Kathy Hendrich’s motives. While ex-national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg spoke of a “blackout” after the game in the “SRF” studio, the defender sees the situation completely differently. “It was neither evil nor a blackout. It was an unfortunate situation,” she emphasizes. “I try to keep in touch with the opponent, but I don’t look at her, but with the ball. […] Then I realize that I am stuck somewhere and want to pull my hand away. I only realized that it was her hair much later. “

What followed after the red card was a nightmare for Hendrich. The DFB player became a target on social media. “I wrote strangers to unstable news on Instagram,” she reports. “The most absurd was the accusation that I was racist, which of course is not true.” But it came even worse: “But the most blatant was that I should kill myself.”

Hendrich was happy to be able to switch to her new club Chicago Red Stars after the European Championship. But even in the United States, she followed the scene: “In the first few days I spoke to a strange woman in a café. At some point we came up with football, she knew about the red card, but not that I was. I found that blatant because I was at the other end of the world and the people still noticed it.” The football fans in the United States were also skeptical – a teammate first had to explain to them that the athlete was “nice”.

The 86-time international received support from her direct environment. “From my team, from my friends and the family there was only consolation,” she reports. She advises you to read hate messages: “I would advise everyone today not to look at the news anymore because it hits you subconsciously.”