News broke late last week, over the weekend that Jerôme Boateng is about to return to Bayern Munich to gather work experience as a coach. While this is laudable as he has won a few trophies throughout his career, the news nonetheless sheds a dubious light on the club and poses serious questions to German society in general.

We remember, Boateng was accused of having hurt a former girlfriend, yet escaped being sentenced. This in itself represents a slap in the face of women and the woman in question. The trial has been dragging for more than five years now and initially the player had to face the fact of having a criminal record. However, several instances at various courts later and Boateng was acquitted but has to pay €100000 to organisations that help kids. And should he ever be reported to the police for violence against women, he will face severe charges. In football parlance: he is booked and next time he’ll be sent off.

Football is way too lenient when it comes to domestic violence. A few years ago, a former player in England was hired by a club after having assaulted a woman. Boateng was accused of having beaten his girlfriend while they were on holiday. The former couple have been arguing for several years about the custody of their kids and it appeared that it is before this background that the argument escalated with both sides getting physical; yet Boateng appeared to have hit harder which led to the investigation in the first place. Initially, he faced charges of €1.5m and a conviction but he escaped either for different reasons.

He got away with it and it’s not fine. It throws a terrible light on football and the German society at large. Will we accept someone without showing any remorse as a coach in football? It may just be possible he coahces kids or a women team! Will they feel safe in when near him? While it is clear that people make mistakes, it is vital that they live up to them and learn from them. This clearly seems not to be the case with Boateng. This is terrible news for football and sports in general.

I’m running the 2026 Paris Marathon for Mental Health UK and i’m raising funds for this charity. For more info, please visit my fundraising page.