The close ties between their club and the state of Qatar annoy many Bayern Munich fans. During the game against SC Freiburg, a critical banner could be seen in the south curve, and the pressure could be increased again at the annual general meeting. The backgrounds.
On Saturday evening after the 2-1 win against SC Freiburg, the management team of FC Bayern Munich around CEO Oliver Kahn and President Herbert Hainer met at the BMW Welt in Munich. The occasion was the awarding of the Bavarian Sports Prize to Kahn’s predecessor Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for his life’s work.
Rummenigge created the fabulously successful modern FC Bayern together with Uli Hoeneß over the past few decades. In the course of this, the two of them entered into close relationships with the state of Qatar, which is responsible for human rights violations, for large sums of money. This legacy is now managed by the new management duo Hainer and Kahn, who have now come under criticism just like Rummenigge and Hoeneß once did.
“For money we wash everything clean,” read a large banner in front of the south curve at the beginning of the second half of the Freiburg game, which the club had allegedly not approved. Below you could see Hainer and Kahn with a washing machine called “FCB AG”, which, for money, transforms blood-smeared shirts into crisp white. It was a further exacerbation of the long-lasting conflict between the club and the fans.
FC Bayern and Qatar: winter training camps and sponsoring
It all started around eleven years ago with FC Bayern’s first winter training camp in Qatar. Instead of in cold Munich, the team prepared for the second half of the season in January 2011 under the best conditions in the Persian Gulf. Qatar, which had become rich through its oil reserves, had set itself the goal of polishing up its dubious image through expensive sporting activities, similar to the neighboring countries of the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia.
Human rights violations, harassment of women and homosexuals, exploitation of migrant workers, executions? FC Bayern and many other top international clubs train with us! In 2022 we will host a world championship! It can’t be that bad! Many fans and human rights organizations were quick to criticize this “sportswashing” approach. In Qatar, however, joy should have arisen when Bavaria’s Honorary President Franz Beckenbauer admitted in 2013 that he had “not yet seen a single slave” there.
Meanwhile, his club continued to intensify relations with Qatar. In 2016, Hamad International Airport in the Qatari capital, Doha, became a platinum partner of FC Bayern, and a year later it even became a sleeve sponsor. In 2018, the state-owned airline Qatar Airways captured the jersey sleeves and at the same time replaced the long-term sponsor Lufthansa. The contract, which is valid until 2023, is expected to bring Bayern Munich around 20 million euros a year.
FC Bayern won the Club World Cup in Doha
The Munich leaders always emphasized that they would use the cooperation with Qatar to improve the human rights situation there. “Since Bayern Munich has been a partner of Qatar, there has been demonstrable positive development in terms of human and labor rights,” claimed Rummenigge at the 2019 annual general meeting.
The situation has actually improved somewhat, but would “still leave a lot to be desired,” said Qatar expert Regina Spöttl from the human rights organization Amnesty International at the beginning of the year mirrors. At the same time reported the Guardianthat 6500 guest workers have already died on construction sites for the World Cup stadiums.
Fittingly, FC Bayern won the Club World Cup in Doha and, with this sixth title, finalized the most successful season in the club’s history. The active fans could not celebrate this triumph in the stadium because of the corona restrictions and accordingly could not criticize it. To do this, they put up a banner in front of the Munich Allianz Arena, on which Rummenigge and Hainer, lured by a money bag, pull a carriage together with a sheik.
FC Bayern: fans mobilize against Qatar engagement
This action was part of a series of critical banners and banners in Munich’s southern curve before the start of the pandemic. In January 2020, fans were also involved in the organization of a panel discussion entitled “Qatar, Human Rights & FC Bayern: Open your mouth, shut your mouth?” involved.
For many fans, progress in Qatar is far too slow, which is why the partnership is currently being called for as never before. After a corresponding motion, this will be voted on at the annual general meeting of FC Bayern on November 25th. A corresponding vote would not be binding, but it would put the bosses under additional pressure.
“We want to take preventive measures to prevent a new deal,” said initiator Michael Ott SID. Qatar stands for massive human rights violations, and there are also serious allegations of corruption in sport. With this cooperation, FC Bayern is actively helping “to divert attention from the grievances” and “to spread a modern, cosmopolitan image of the country”.
Incidentally, the 28-year-old trainee lawyer Ott has nothing to do with the Munich ultra scene, which was responsible for the banner at the Freiburg game. “The Ultras have expressed their support with the poster, we are very pleased about that,” said Ott der image. “Precisely because the Presidium has so far tried to keep the motion quiet. But it is important for us to show that the motion is not only supported by the Ultras, but by the entire range of Bayern fans.”
Double standards allegations against players, jokes by Nagelsmann
The seriousness of the fan concern does not seem to have really reached the club yet. Current statements from the bosses on this topic are missing, as are differentiated statements from players.
These have long been suspected of having double standards. Before an international match against Iceland at the beginning of the year, the national players of FC Bayern presented themselves in warm-up shirts with the words “Human Rights”, while at the same time they wear the Qatar Airways logo on their sleeves when their club plays. A state institution in a country that can be shown to be responsible for human rights violations.
When coach Julian Nagelsmann was asked about the washing machine banner at the press conference after the Freiburg game, he first joked: “I see that something is hanging there and wonder how the people behind it see what.”
