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Oliver Kahn defends Qatar sponsorship at Bayern Munich

2021-12-24T11:38:23.602Z


When it came to Qatar, the annual general meeting of FC Bayern escalated, and now CEO Oliver Kahn has again defended the deal with the emirate in an interview - and called for maximum wages for players.


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CEO Kahn: The ongoing topic of Qatar sponsorship

Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa

At the end of November, the general meeting of FC Bayern Munich on Qatar escalated in a memorable way, the new club bosses gave a disastrous picture.

One of them: Oliver Kahn.

Now the CEO has again defended the controversial sponsorship by the state-owned company Qatar Airways.

"Certainly, a lot of things in Qatar are not what people imagine by our standards, but my conviction is that there can be no solution either to isolate themselves or not to conduct a dialogue," said Kahn in an interview with the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" .

For many years, Qatar has been sharpened by human rights organizations, among other things because of the Kafala guardianship system and the way it deals with guest workers

criticized.

According to information from the Guardian from last February, more than 6,500 guest workers have died since the 2022 World Cup was awarded to the country ten years ago.

According to Human Rights Watch, workers are not paid their wages and passports are confiscated to prevent them from leaving the country.

Housing and working conditions are precarious.

Amnesty International recently issued a new report that

Qatar has only implemented gaps in the reforms announced in the country and practices that violate human rights have resurfaced.

In the »SZ«, Kahn described not doing business with the emirate as not expedient.

»Boycott Qatar?

Not playing a World Cup there?

And then?

Will something develop for the better there? ”Asked the former Bayern goalkeeper.

"Of course the contract with Qatar Airways is lucrative"

The sponsorship flushes around 17 million euros into the coffers of Munich every year.

"We always have to evaluate this sponsorship according to economic criteria, and of course the contract with Qatar Airways is lucrative," said Kahn.

How the club will deal with the Qatar deal in the future, Kahn left open.

“We will fulfill it and in the meantime watch carefully how things develop.

And then we'll decide how to proceed, ”he said.

Most recently, Kahn had not ruled out an extension with Qatar Airways on the TV show Sky90 beyond the end of the contract in 2023.

In the run-up to the annual general meeting of FC Bayern, Bayern member Michael Ott had submitted an application in which he asked the Bayern management not to continue the contract with Qatar Airways.

Ott was not allowed to speak at the meeting, but other club members had also commented on the topic and, among other things, called for changes to the association's statutes, according to which FC Bayern will in future campaign for the respect of human rights and at the same time for the implementation of the UN guiding principles for Business and human rights.

The evening slipped away from Kahn and President Herbert Hainer, and Uli Hoeneß then spoke of the "worst event" he had ever experienced at his club.

  • Dispute over Qatar sponsorship: How the general meeting escalated at FC Bayern

In the »SZ« interview, Kahn also explained his idea of ​​financial fair play.

"We want salaries to be curbed, and it would also be desirable if prices on the transfer market fell," he said. "We want a salary cap." Also a hard limit, that is, a "sum X, the maximum that one club may spend on salaries, "is in the Bavarian sense, as is a" soft cap "as a relative variable that determines the maximum share of salaries in a club's income.

In addition, Kahn would like "clear limits for investors" and penalties "that hurt and are really carried out, even at the big clubs" if the regulations on "cost control in football" are not adhered to.

luk / sid

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-12-24

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