Kicked out of the league

It has long been public knowledge that FC Ostelbien Dornburg was a predominantly neo-Nazi outfit, but the Saxony-Anhalt Football Federation (FSA) has now bowed to media pressure and applied to have the team thrown out of its league - the eastern German state's local Kreisliga, or the tenth tier of Germany's football league system.

The club represents a district of barely 270 inhabitants in a small town called Gommern, outside Magdeburg, but the violence of its 18 squad members - 15 of whom are recognized by the state intelligence agency as neo-Nazis - has made national headlines for several months.

Club captain Dennis Wesemann has faced charges of assault, disturbing the peace, and showing symbols of banned organizations, while four local clubs have refused to play against Ostelbien, and 59 of 65 local referees are refusing to officiate their games.

The FSA's action seems to be the culmination of increased media coverage, especially by the "Taz" newspaper, who reported an incident where a Kosovo Albanian player was spat on and attacked by Ostelbien's Wesemann during a game.

Better late than never

"In the FSA's opinion, the club ... has repeatedly and grossly violated the statutory clauses of the LSB [state sports federation]. In 2015 there has been an accumulation of violations of fair play as well as gross unsportsmanlike behavior and discrimination," the FSA said in a statement, before going on to allege that the club clearly condoned the actions of its players.

In July, regional state TV network MDR aired a report that included footage of a post-match brawl following Ostelbien's defeat in a relegation play-off. It also painted a frightening portrait of the nearby village of Stresow, where Wesemann sits on the local council and appears to rule locals with a constant threat of violence.

The camera team were attacked by Wesemann himself during the filming, and many people were shown clearly too scared to talk to the journalists, who were eventually escorted out of the village by police.

LSB President Lutz Bengsch, who promised a decision by August 31, was optimistic that the club would be shut out of the league. "We will work very intensively, and I think we're not without a chance," he told the "Taz."

The new sense of urgency is partly down to the efforts of Sebastian Striegel, a Green party representative in the Saxony-Anhalt parliament, who began a new initiative against the club on reading the "Taz" report in April.

Striegel was initially disappointed with the FSA's apparent indifference to the issue, and welcomed this week's news: "I think it's good that the Saxony Anhalt football federation has now reacted," he said. "I regret it didn't happen sooner. The assessments of the club and the reports of far-right incidents during games, as well as the backgrounds of its far-right players, have been known for years."

Toxic history

The LSB originally tried to ban FC Ostelbien Dornburg at its foundation in 2011, but was thwarted by a court ruling on the grounds that the club could not be banned unless it was overtly political - even though the players and coaches were recruited from among a neo-Nazi collective that called itself "Blue White Street Elite," of which Wesemann was a founding member.

"After consulting with the German Olympic Sports Confederation, we decided not to appeal the decision, so as not to give them a bigger platform," said FSA Erwin Bugar. He might now regret that, given the media attention the club has since attracted.

Either way, the club seems determined to keep its players on the pitch. "We see any exclusion procedure as unjustified and inappropriate," an anonymous club spokesman told the local "Magdeburg Volkstimme" newspaper last week. "In such a case we will use the legal paths we are entitled to."