Honorary President Uli Hoeneß advises Bayern Munich to continue the controversial cooperation with World Cup hosts Qatar. He would be in favor of extending the contract with sponsor Qatar Airways. The cooperation is not welcomed by the active part of the Munich fan scene.
Honorary President Uli Hoeneß has clearly positioned himself on the question of whether FC Bayern should extend the contract with sponsor Qatar Airways. "I would be in favor of extending it, but I have nothing to decide, the board does that," said Hoeneß on "Sunday regulars' table" on BR television. FC Bayern has already announced that it will decide on the controversial sponsorship with the airline after the World Cup at the end of the year. The sponsorship, which is lucrative for the association, caused a dispute at the general meeting in autumn 2021 and ultimately chaos. On Saturday there is another annual general meeting of the German record champions.
Hoeneß is a member of the FC Bayern supervisory board and is therefore also involved in important issues at the club through his office. "First of all, the board has to clarify that. And then you have to ask whether the Qataris will extend it. Because after the theater that has been going on in Europe in recent years, it's not certain that they will extend it. There there are always two involved," said Hoeneß. Most recently, the 70-year-old caused a stir with a public dispute with the former managing director of the German Football League, Andreas Rettig, because of the World Cup hosts. Rettig then called Hoeneß a "Qatar lobbyist".
The record champion's former alpha boss is bothered by the criticism. "If you don't do international sport anywhere else in countries where human rights aren't handled the way they are here, then we have to stop," he said. Then 87 percent of the countries would fail for international competitions. It is "strange that these topics are almost only discussed in Germany". This did not go down well with Bayern Munich fans. They used the Bundesliga game against Bayer Leverkusen to protest against Hoeneß. "State visits, training camps, thousands of deaths to celebrate the World Cup... It's only better for your own conscience, Uli H.!" Was the banner.
At the annual general meeting on Saturday (6 p.m.) in the Audi Dome, the election of the executive committee is also on the agenda. Herbert Hainer, Hoeneß's successor as President, wants to be re-elected for another three years. Hainer stressed that it was an "honour" to be Bayern President. A few weeks ago he also looked back on the turbulent meeting of the previous year.
"It was a matter close to my heart that we question ourselves self-critically and honestly and then do everything we can to show that FC Bayern wasn't how we imagined it to be," said Hainer. "Since then, we have developed and intensified many new dialogue formats in the club. The exchange with our members and fans is important to me, and we have received a lot of positive feedback for months: many people tell us that we have drawn the right conclusions."
