That Anwar El Ghazi case (30) was decided in the next round. But it might not be the last…
Mainz 05 first warned the Dutchman of Moroccan origin in September 2023, then fired him without notice – and justified this with the striker’s anti-Israel statements on the Internet. El Ghazi challenged the termination and was successful in the first instance.
On Wednesday, the Labor Court of the State of Rhineland-Pfalz rejected the club’s appeal against this decision!
The reason, as stated in the 05er press release: Termination of employment without notice is not justified because in this case freedom of expression takes precedence over the interests of the employer.
What this means for Mainz 05: The 1.5 million euros they had to pay in wages for the first year of the contract after last year’s decision may be gone forever. This is because the state labor court no longer allows appeals against its decisions. The club must file a complaint against it before going to the Federal Labor Court. It has not yet been decided whether this will be done.
“We have to accept the court’s decision,” 05 chairman Stefan Hofmann (62) said of Wednesday’s ruling, but stressed: “However, in terms of content, we stand by our position: Based on the values and beliefs that define Mainz 05, the continued employment of people who express themselves and behave in fundamental opposition to those same people is not included in the future.”
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The attitude of the Mainz team is very tough But the price of the club can now be even more expensive. El Ghazi’s lawsuit, which also demands compensation, has not yet been decided. His argument for this: At Cardiff City, where he was under contract for a year before his current engagement in Qatar, his earnings were much lower than in 05, where his contract would have been automatically extended if he had stayed in the league.
In this matter, the Mainz labor court has proposed a settlement requiring the 05ers to pay an additional 800,000 euros. The bottom line is that you will pay a total of 2.3 million – for a total of just 51 Bundesliga minutes that saw El Ghazi on the pitch across 3 appearances.
