BERLIN
Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn has stated that the membership would discover a “resolution” to the continuing debate over its controversial sponsorship cope with Qatar Airways, however solely after the World Cup.
class=”cf”>
“We’ll maintain intensive discussions with Qatar Airways after the World Cup and weigh every little thing up, after which we are going to discover a resolution for FC Bayern,” stated Kahn on the membership AGM in Munich.
The feedback got here amid a rising debate over whether or not Bayern ought to prolong their partnership with Qatar’s state-owned nationwide airline past June 2023, when their present contract is ready to run out.
Germany’s greatest membership has lengthy confronted criticism from its personal followers over its enterprise hyperlinks to Qatar, which embrace a sleeve sponsorship with Qatar Airways and common winter coaching camps in Doha.
Followers have repeatedly expressed their unease at Bayern’s ties to the gulf state, which has confronted fierce criticism over its human rights file and therapy of migrant staff because it was awarded the World Cup in 2010.
The interior debate at Bayern reached a low level eventually 12 months’s AGM, as followers and membership bosses clashed bitterly over an try by some members to desk a movement on cancelling the Qatar Airways sponsorship deal.
class=”cf”>
The membership hierarchy struck a extra conciliatory tone this 12 months, with Kahn pointing to a spherical desk the membership had held with fan representatives and human rights organizations again in July.
“No person stated that Qatar is a rustic which meets European requirements, however everybody stated that they’re heading in the right direction,” he stated, apparently referring to latest labor reforms within the Gulf state.
But amid ongoing criticism of Qatar from human rights organizations akin to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Worldwide, Bayern stay underneath fireplace from their very own followers.
After former president Uli Hoeness urged the membership to increase the Qatar Airways deal in September, Bayern ultras hit again with a banner at their subsequent residence recreation in opposition to Bayer Leverkusen.
“State visits, coaching camps, hundreds of deaths for World Cup celebrations,” the banner learn.
In monetary figures revealed on Oct. 15, Bayern recorded an annual turnover of 665.7m euros ($648 million) in 2021-22, and earnings of 12.7 million euros.
Earnings from sponsoring and advertising and marketing, which incorporates the Qatar Airways partnership, was 224.2 million euros.
class=”cf”>
In addition to promising an answer to the Qatar query, Kahn stated he would use his place as vice chairman of the European Golf equipment Affiliation to marketing campaign for extra stringent monetary rules in European soccer.
“Monetary Fairplay is clearly a blunt sword, and we’d like a pointy sword,” he stated.
