Man raising money for crying young Germany fan to show ‘not everyone from UK is horrible’

Child pictured on TV in Wembley crowd received abuse online after England win over Germany

(BBC)

A Welsh footballfan has so far raised more than £13,000 for a young German girl who was abused online to “show her not everyone in the UK is horrible”.

Joel Hughes, 51, started a fundraiser on the crowdfunding website JustGiving after seeing the “horrible” tweets responding to the image of the young Germany supporter, who was pictured crying on television in the closing moments of England’s 2-0 Euro 2020 victory over Germany at Wembley.

Mr Hughes, from Newport, set up the fundraiser as a gesture of “goodwill” in the hopes that “the parents of the little girl will spend this on a nice treat for her so that she knows that not everyone from the UK is horrible and that we care.”

He is hoping to track down the girl’s family via social media.

Ex-England footballer and TV presenter Gary Lineker was among those to condemn online abuse of the child spread by some fans, decribing it as “disgusting” and “xenophobic”.

Mr Hughes told BBC Wales that he’s “had enough of” xenophobia in the UK, saying he thinks the UK has ”turned into such an intolerant country.”

He said: “We have a vocal minority of idiots who are swamping out the good in the UK and they’re ruining our perception on the world stage and they’re ruining our relationship with our friends and partners in Europe.”

He added that the campaign has “struck a chord with a lot of people who are fed up with this kind of abuse.”

If the girl’s family are not found, or do not want to be involved, Mr Hughes said he would donate the proceeds to a “cause that is closely aligned to the spirit of the campaign”.