Greece’s national soccer team is banning a player for life for giving a Nazi salute while celebrating a goal.  The Hellenic Football Federation says Giorgos Katidis’ gesture "is a deep insult to all victims of Nazi brutality."

The 20-year-old midfielder is pleading ignorance and put out a statement on his twitter account, “I am not racist in any way. I abhor fascism. I would not have done it if I knew that it meant something. I know the consequences and would not do it ever.”

His German coach Ewald Lienenon AEK Athens is backing Katidis, claiming he has no political ideas.

But it comes at a difficult time:  This weekend is the anniversary of Greece’s deportation of Jews to concentration camps during World War II.

And the neo-Nazi “Golden Dawn” political party won a number of seats in Parliament last year on a racist, anti-immigrant platform amid the country’s financial crisis.