January 14 – Arsenal are investigating social media posts sent to Kai Havertz’s wife after the club’s third-round exit to Manchester City in the FA Cup including threats to the couple’s unborn child.
Havertz missed a penalty in Arsenal’s shootout defeat at the Emirates and prior to that failed to convert two excellent chances to settle the tie.
Afterwards his partner Sophia – who is expecting her first child with the German international reposted two abhorrent messages she had received on Instagram.
Arsenal have reported the abuse to the police and are working with a specialist data firm to try to identify the culprits.
Sophia Havertz expressed her disgust at the abuse she received.
“For anyone to think it’s okay to write something like this is so shocking to me… I hope you are ashamed of yourself,” she posted.
In response to the threat to her baby, she posted: “I’m not sure what to even say but please guys be more respectful. We are better than this…”
Football authorities and the police have tried to combat online abuse toward players which has become a serious problem throughout the game at all levels especially when the culprits remain anonymous.
At the 2021 Euros, England players Bukayo Sako, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were subjected to racial abuse on social media after missing penalties in a shootout defeat to Italy in the final and there have been several other examples before and since.
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