Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 5y

U.S. youth international Gloster subjected to monkey chants in Germany

United States youth international Chris Gloster was racially abused by VfB Lubeck supporters while playing for Hannover this week, his club said on their official website.

Hannover reported the alleged abuse to the Northern German FA, after Michael Tarnat -- Hannover's head of academy -- said the Lubeck fans' behaviour had "exceeded tolerable limits."

Gloster, 18, was subjected to monkey chants and other verbal abuse by members of the 200 travelling Lubeck supporters, according to Hannover's statement.

"Chris sat in the dressing room with tears in his eyes and he couldn't believe it," Tarnat said in the statement. "He was insulted severely and continually during the match.

"Of course, a young lad like him can't just swallow it like that. It exceeded tolerable limits and that's why we decided to report the incident to the FA."

Speaking on The Scuffed Soccer Podcast, Gloster said: "I didn't know how to react, because it was my first experience.

"My teammates really helped me through it. The team we were playing against, even their players were comforting me and helping me through it."

Thomas Schikorra, a spokesman for VfB Lubeck, told Sportbuzzer that the club were stunned by the accusations.

"Unbelievable," he said. "Hannover did not inform us and there was nothing of the like in the referee's report. We collected a great deal of information and cannot understand the comments made by Hannover."

Gloster, who joined Hannover from the New York Red Bulls' academy last summer, is one of two U.S. youngsters at Hannover. The young left-back received support from his teammates on Instagram, as well as from Bayern Munich's U.S. player Chris Richards, who said on Twitter: "There's no place for racism in our game."

Last month, Germany internationals Leroy Sane and Ilkay Gundogan were reportedly racially abused by a number of supporters during their nation's friendly against Serbia in Wolfsburg. The alleged abuse -- which is being investigated -- was made public by a journalist who attended the match as a fan.

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