The German judiciary has once again ruled in favor of Anwar El Ghazi in the case of Mainz’s termination of his contract due to his condemnation of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip. This time, the final ruling compels the renowned club to pay him his full salary.
Mainz had suspended El Ghazi in October 2023 following his social media posts expressing support for Gaza during the brutal Israeli aggression.
The club later reversed its decision, claiming that the Dutch player regretted his posts. Al-Ghazi vehemently denied this, leading to a series of disputes between him and Mainz that culminated in the unilateral termination of his contract.
El Ghazi demanded full payment of his remaining salary due to this arbitrary termination, and the court ruled in his favor. Mainz was barred from appealing the decision, and the German club’s final attempt was an appeal against this ruling, which was also rejected.
And so the case comes to a close, with Mainz obligated to pay €1.5 million in compensation to the 34-year-old player for the termination of his contract, after the court confirmed that “freedom of expression outweighs the club’s interests in this instance.”
It is worth noting that Anwar El Ghazi, currently playing for Al-Sailiya SC in Qatar, previously announced that a significant portion of this compensation would go to the people of Gaza to support reconstruction efforts.
