The Regional Labour Court in Rhineland-Palatinate -Bavaria upheld a previous ruling requiring German club Mainz to pay €1.5 million to its former player Anwar El Ghazi, after it was proven that the club had illegally terminated his contract based on a post expressing solidarity with Palestine during Israel’s two-year genocide in Gaza in 2023.

Anwar El Ghazi: still on the right side of history

In October 2023, Anwar El Ghazi posted on social media expressing his support for the Palestinians, including the famous phrase ‘from the river to the sea,’ which German authorities consider an inflammatory slogan, while the American Jewish Committee describes it as a call for the elimination of Israel.

Following the post, Mainz suspended the football star, describing his behaviour as ‘unacceptable’, before later lifting the suspension after El Ghazi expressed ‘remorse’, according to the club’s statement at the time. However, the player later reiterated that he did not regret his stance and would not back down from his statements, prompting the club to terminate his contract in November 2023.

In July 2024, the Mainz Labour Court ruled that the termination decision was arbitrary and ordered the club to pay El Ghazi’s wages for the period from November 2023 to July 2024, totalling €1.5 million.

Mainz attempted to appeal the decision in the hope of recovering the amount, but the regional court finally rejected the appeal on Wednesday, 12 November 2025, confirming that there was no legal justification for the club’s immediate dismissal of the player.

In a statement following the ruling, club president Stefan Hoffmann said:

We must respect the court’s decision, which found that our player’s conduct after the events of October 2023 did not justify the immediate termination of his contract. However, we emphasise that Mainz’s values do not allow for any action or statement that contradicts our fundamental principles.

For his part, Anwar El Ghazi wrote immediately after his dismissal and the termination of his contract with the German club:

Stand up for what is right, even if you have to stand alone.

Sports players under pressure

Anwar El Ghazi, born in the Netherlands to parents of Moroccan origin, is one of the players who represented prominent European clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam, Aston Villa and Eindhoven before joining Mainz in 2023. He played only three matches with the team before the crisis.

After being dismissed from the German club, El Ghazi joined Cardiff City in England in August 2024, then moved to Al-Sailiya in Qatar in September of the same year.

The final ruling in El Ghazi’s favour once again highlights the pressure European athletes are under due to their stance on the war in Gaza, amid widespread debate about freedom of expression and its limits on the European continent.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.