This archive report was first published on 4 June 2020.
On June 4, 2020, Borussia Dortmund players made a powerful statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement by taking a knee during a training session in Dortmund, Germany.
Just days after the German Football Association cleared Jadon Sancho and Achraf Hakimi of wrongdoing for displaying the message 'Justice for George Floyd' on their undershirts during a match, the team's players showed their solidarity with the movement.
Centre-back Mats Hummels posted a photo of 28 players kneeling in the shape of a heart on a playing field on Twitter, with the caption: 'We the players of Borussia Dortmund fully support the Black Lives Matter Movement. We don't accept racism of any kind. For an open-minded and tolerant world, for a better world.'
The team's gesture comes after the death of George Floyd, a black American man who died on May 25 after a white policeman kneeled on his neck for several minutes, sparking widespread protests in the United States.
Jerome Boateng, a former Germany and Bayern Munich team-mate of Hummels, had earlier called on more famous white sportspeople to add their voices to the chorus of outrage against Floyd's death.
The Premier League's Liverpool had also shown their support for the movement by publishing a similar photo at their Anfield home.
The act of kneeling has become a symbol in the fight against racial injustice, made famous by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick's kneeling during pre-game renditions of the US national anthem.
