A few days before the start of the soccer World Cup, the World Cup ambassador of all people made extremely homophobic statements. These make waves, also with Hans-Joachim Watzke. The BVB boss and DFB vice doesn't want to believe what he hears at first.
DFB Vice President and BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke also reacted with great incomprehension to the homophobic statements made by Qatar World Cup ambassador Khalid Salman. "I didn't believe it at first. It's unbelievable to say such complete nonsense. I honestly thought it was a fake. I had no idea that someone acting as a World Cup ambassador would do something like that told," said Watzke on Bild TV.
Salman said in an interview in front of the cameras in the ZDF documentary "Geheimsache Qatar" that homosexuality is "haram" - forbidden in Islam. Anyone who is homosexual has "mental damage". The interview was then cut short by an official of the organizing committee. Salman's statement made waves internationally among politicians, human rights organizations and LGBTQ organizations.
Manuel Neuer said on the ZDF "Sportstudio": "It's an absolute lapse. It bothers me, it annoys me, it's unacceptable. It's sad that someone like that is a World Cup ambassador." The Germany international goalkeeper and captain explained that his team in Qatar will stand up for his values and respect for human rights. "In close consultation with the DFB, the team, the team council and those responsible, we will see how far we can go. We are thinking and will represent our values."
Watzke also demanded this. The German Football Association (DFB) as a whole must "position itself clearly on site" at the World Cup in the desert state (November 20th to December 18th). President Bernd Neuendorf "has already done that and is doing it very well". However, national coach Hansi Flick is also right when he asks that the national team be allowed to concentrate primarily on sport.
"We have to give the team the opportunity to concentrate on the tournament. We're going to Qatar to play football," said Watzke. "If the players feel able to take a stand, they should do it. But we also have to have respect for those who say: Let's make a clear division of tasks - the association and the officials should position themselves publicly."
Nevertheless, "no one in the DFB or in the national team would be suspected of supporting this madness or even approvingly accepting it," emphasized the managing director of Borussia Dortmund. However, in light of the economic and political business with Qatar, it is "unfair" to say that football must solve everything.
Watzke also had to comfort Mats Hummels in the past few days, who was not nominated for the World Cup. Criticism of Flick is not appropriate: "It's simply the decision of the national coach, we have to accept it." In his role as vice-president of the German Football Association, he spoke for a long time with Flick and Hummels about the decision not to nominate the 33-year-old defender for the tournament in Qatar. But it is the privilege of the national coach to make such personal decisions.
"We don't have to talk about the fact that it's a huge disappointment for Mats," said Watzke. The 2014 world champion was "very attacked" because he was not taken into account. The following day, the central defender had put in a poor performance in the 2:4 in Mönchengladbach.
