Plain text from Leon Goretzka: For the national player, homophobia in the World Cup host country Qatar is "very oppressive". Bayern's sports director Hasan Salihamidzic also condemned the scandalous statement by World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman. Salihamidzic left open whether this would have consequences for the sponsorship relationship.
Soccer national player Leon Goretzka and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic from FC Bayern Munich have sharply criticized the homophobic statements made by a Qatari World Cup ambassador. "It's very oppressive, you have to say. It's just a human image from another millennium," said Goretzka after FC Bayern's 6-1 win over Werder Bremen. "That's not what we want to stand for and what we live by example. It is absolutely unacceptable to make such a statement."
Salihamidzic also emphasized this. "The statement is simply unacceptable," said the sports director on Wednesday night. The whirlwind was triggered by statements by Khalid Salman, who is one of the official ambassadors for the tournament, which begins on November 20 in Qatar. In a ZDF documentary, he said that being gay was forbidden because it was mentally harmful.
When asked whether such statements could influence FC Bayern's calculations regarding the cooperation with Qatar Airways, Salihamidzic was reluctant. "That's the statement of a single person. We have to talk about that, of course," he said. "But that's just a single person - and that's unacceptable."
The sponsorship relationship with Qatar is a controversial topic among Bayern fans. Those responsible for the club had stated that after the World Cup they wanted to decide whether to extend the cooperation until the summer of 2023. Banners clearly criticizing the statements made by the Qatar World Cup ambassador were displayed in the Bayern fan block during the game against Bremen.
