FIFA are aware of an incident involving a World Cup official who appeared to make a hand gesture associated with white supremacist groups.
Referee Shaun Evans was ‘support VAR’ for Germany’s victory over Curacao when he was shown staring into the camera before kick-off, as has become customary at World Cup matches.
The Australian A-League official appeared to make an upside-down ‘OK’ hand gesture, which can be interpreted as a symbol linked to white supremacy.
While the symbol is commonly used to mean ‘OK’ and is also a popular emoji, its use upside down and below the waist has drawn scrutiny.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said in 2019 that the OK symbol has become a ‘popular trolling tactic’ from ‘right-leaning individuals, who often post photos to social media of themselves posing while making the gesture’.
The gesture is also associated with a playground game in which any individual who looks at the sign below the waist is punched.
FIFA are likely to investigate the context and intent behind the gesture.
Referee Shaun Evans was ‘support VAR’ for Germany’s victory over Curacao when he was shown staring into the camera before kick-off, as has become customary at World Cup matches
The Australian A-League official appeared to make an upside-down ‘OK’ hand gesture, which can be interpreted as a symbol linked to white supremacy
The hand shape appeared similar to the incident surrounding a Paris 2024 official, who had his accreditation removed for appearing to make the gesture during a women’s skateboarding final.
In that case, the man in question, who was wearing Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) kit but was later identified as a subcontractor, appeared to make the hand sign twice during event footage while standing behind athletes.
The BBC claimed in 2019 that the ‘OK’ hand gesture had been added to a list of hate symbols.
The ADL maintains that the ‘overwhelming usage’ of the hand gesture today is still to show approval, or that someone is all right.
Therefore ‘particular care must be taken not to jump to conclusions about the intent behind someone who has used the gesture’.
However, it can be used as a ‘sincere expression of white supremacy’.
The symbol started out as an online joke on 4Chan – taking an innocent gesture and pretending there was a hidden meaning behind it, hoping to trick the media and left-leaning individuals into anger.
The hand shape appeared similar to the incident surrounding a Paris 2024 official, who had his accreditation removed for appearing to make the gesture during a skateboarding final
The ‘OK’ symbol (seen bottom left) can be interpreted as an ‘expression of white supremacy’
The footage in question was screened live before Germany began their World Cup campaign with a thumping 7-1 victory over debutants Curaçao on Sunday.
Germany’s Felix Nmecha scored the fastest goal of the tournament so far after six minutes and Nico Schlotterbeck, Kai Havertz (two), Jamal Musiala, Nathaniel Brown and Deniz Undav also netted in an easy outing for Julian Nagelsmann’s side.
But the biggest cheer from the 68,021 crowd came for Livano Comenencia’s 21st-minute equaliser for Curacao to score their first goal at a World Cup as they became the smallest nation by population size and area to play at the global finals.
Curacao’s sizeable support enjoyed their historic day out under Dick Advocaat, who became the oldest coach in World Cup history at the age of 78, and cheered to the end on an occasion perhaps most believed would never come.
‘We expected to do more against Germany, but they were too strong,’ Advocaat said.
‘We conceded three easy goals and 4-1 would have been a better score.
‘Despite this 7-1 outcome, the joy of the fans is fantastic. This is not a disgrace, we can still be proud. We still have two games to go and those could end differently.
‘The players will not be downcast, it was still great to play in this game.’
Recalled goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is now also the oldest player to feature for Germany at a major tournament aged 40, beating the previous record holder Lothar Matthaeus.
‘It took us a few minutes to get back into the game after they equalised,’ Nagelsmann said.
‘Curacao can play football too, as we saw, and I’m curious to see how they’ll fare in the group going forward.
‘I’m very satisfied with us scoring seven goals and our performance for the most part. A winning start is always important and we’re glad we managed it.’
Daily Mail Sport has contacted FIFA for comment.
