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Martin Hinteregger
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KAI PFAFFENBACH/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Eintracht Frankfurt defender Martin Hinteregger was actually looking forward to a football festival, but that is now being criticized.
From June 16 to 19, 2022, the so-called "Hinti Cup and Festi:Ball" was to take place in the village of Sirnitz in the Austrian region of Carinthia.
A football and festival event at which »the otherwise tranquil and quiet village in Carinthia is being upset« and at which people are supposed to »rock«, »kick« and »celebrate hard«.
The program items: football golf course, natural swimming pool, a themed hiking trail "Martin Hinteregger - My home village", a colorful football exhibition in Albeck Castle.
Among others, the Austrian musician DJ Ötzi and the Frankfurt rapper Vega should provide the musical framework, as can be read on the website.
But after a publication of the site standpoint.press there was excitement: It was reported there that Hinteregger's business partner for this event was the former municipal councilor of the "Freedom Party of Austria" (FPÖ) Heinrich Sickl, who held a mandate until 2021.
Contacts to the »Identitarian Movement«
As a teenager, Sickl had neo-Nazi contacts, which he had confirmed to the "Kleine Zeitung", but said: "But we're talking about a 17-year-old boy." He is also said to have had contacts with the "Identitarian Movement".
He is said to have rented premises to the movement and acted as a folder on one of their demos, as the "Standard" reports.
Sickl denies the connections.
The Austrian Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Combating Terrorism writes about the Identitarian Movement: "The Identitarian Movement can be cited as an example of what is known as modernized right-wing extremism." There was also talk of a ban in Austria.
Sickl now told the magazine »11Freunde«: »Football is football, politics is politics.
I'm a landowner, I make my property available," says the former politician.
He is no longer politically active, it is not a political event.
»This is a great event that everyone can come to.
Why is everything politically exploited?
It's a long time since my activities."
Hinteregger wants to end the business relationship
The political background of his business partner is not known to Hinteregger: "I have no knowledge of past or future activities on the part of the Sickl family, I just want a football tournament to take place and nothing more," he wrote on Instagram.
How the event will continue is unclear.
Hinteregger stated that he would break off "any business relationship with the Sickl family with immediate effect based on the current state of knowledge" and that the "Hinti Cup event will also be examined as an alternative".
In the past, Frankfurt had always advocated the fight against right-wing populists and extremists.
The association supports the »No room for racism« campaign, which »was launched due to repeated xenophobic incidents on German football pitches«.
»Continue to fight against discrimination«
President Peter Fischer once emphasized that members of the "Alternative for Germany" party had no place in Eintracht.
In a speech in 2020, he said: »90,000 members in my club are against these shitty racists, against this shitty AfD, they show a clear edge: we don't want any Nazis.
We don't need you brown swamps."
Hinteregger now wrote on Instagram: "I have friends all over the world through my time in professional football and also privately, and I clearly reject accusations that I am right-wing and continue to fight against any kind of discrimination."
bka
