Footballer brutally attacked after posting controversial picture as police investigate

FC Nurnberg star Niklas-Wilson Sommer has been attacked in his home after a picture emerged of him wearing the jersey of his club’s bitter Bavarian rivals, Bayern Munich. The club has released a statement condemning the incident and police are investigating.

Sommer had already apologised for the picture, which was deleted from his social media account. The 26-year-old is a popular streamer with over a million followers on Instagram and Nurnberg fans did not take kindly to one of their players flauting the badge of their long-standing foes.

Sommer showed his red, swollen face on social media after the attack on Saturday night. “I’m fine, thanks for all the messages,” he wrote.

Fans protested against Sommer during Nurnberg’s 4-0 defeat to Magdeburg at the weekend. “Club pride instead of hipster posing. You’re s***, like FCB,” read one banner. Another said: “Wilson, p*** off, you Bayern pig.”

Nurnberg addressed the attack on their official website on Sunday. The statement read: “During the night from Saturday to Sunday, there was a physical attack on one of our U23 players. By lying in wait on the doorstep in the early evening and then physically attacking him a few hours later in the night, these people crossed all boundaries.

“The act is apparently a reaction to the player appearing in a Bayern jersey on social media three days earlier. The photo was deleted shortly after publication and the player also publicly apologized.

“The club will never accept players being physically attacked. That is exactly what happened last night through the actions of individuals. The club condemns this behavior in the strongest possible terms. It is absolutely incompatible with the values ​​of FCN.

“The police investigation into the incident began last night. If there are any convictions in this connection, the club will of course react accordingly.”

Sommer came through Nurnberg’s academy system and was highly rated as a youngster, earning caps for Germany at youth level and breaking through into his club’s senior side while still a teenager.

The right-back transferred to Stuttgart but returned to his boyhood club in 2023 after six years away, during which time he turned out for lower-league sides Sonnenhof Grossaspach and Waldhof Mannheim, as well as Slovakian outfit DAC Dunajska Streda.