Bayern vs. Bayern: Legal battle over freedom of speech ahead of Champions League final
On Wednesday evening, Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski fired Bayern Munich into the Champions League final, where French champions Paris Saint-Germain stand between them and a second treble in eight years.
There were, of course, no fans inside the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, with the mini-tournament taking place behind doors. Earlier that day, one Bayern Munich supporter who would have been at the game under normal circumstances was instead in court in Munich, appealing an internal ban handed to him by his club.
Back in March, the supporter in question – a member of Bayern’s active fan scene who attends every game home and away – was banned from all Bayern Munich premises indefinitely, ostensibly for smuggling a banner into a reserve team match, protesting against Monday matches.
Dr. Gerhard Riedl, representing Bayern, argued in court that the banner infringed stadium regulations since it didn’t have a fire safety certificate, and that it was the second such infringement.
Dr. Andreas Hüttl, representing the supporter, disagreed, telling public broadcaster Sportschau: “In the last year, over a hundred banners have been displayed and there has never been [any punishment]. Even a person caught with pyrotechnics only gets a two-year ban but now someone gets an unlimited ban for not having a fire certificate?
“At its core, this is about freedom of expression in the stadium. We’re talking about an opinion which is quite clearly covered by article five [of the German constitution] covering freedom of expression: ‘Bayern Amateurs against Monday games.’ Nothing disrespectful, nothing insulting, a simple statement of opinion.”
“Bayern Amateurs against Monday game” – the banner at the heart of a debate which isn’t really about Monday games at all
Bayern and Qatar
Moreover, Dr. Hüttl suspects an ulterior motive, namely that Bayern are attempting to silence his client, who has long been a vocal critic of the club’s sponsorship links to the state of Qatar, whose sovereign wealth fund also owns Paris Saint-Germain outright.
In January this year, during Bayern’s tenth consecutive winter training camp in the Gulf state, the supporter in question helped organize an event in Munich entitled “Qatar, Human Rights and FC Bayern: hands out, mouths shut?” at which he and two Nepalese migrant workers spoke about working conditions in the country which is set to host the 2022 World Cup.
Last year, the same supporter had unsuccessfully submitted a motion at Bayern’s annual general meeting to insert a commitment to human rights into the club’s constitution.
And at Bayern home matches, the supporter’s fan group, Munich’s Red Pride, have regularly displayed banners criticizing their club’s engagement in Qatar, including one in January 2019 which depicted Rummenigge and then club president Uli Hoeness with euro signs in their eyes talking about “outstanding training conditions” while slave laborers toiled in the background (see image above).
Rummenigge insisted at the time that there has been a “positive development in the legal situation of immigrant workers” and “improvements in workers’ rights” but critics still accuse Qatar of using Bayern Munich to “sportswash” – or launder – the country’s image.
“You stand against discrimination, so what about the Qatar deal?” – Bayern fans regularly criticize their own club
‘The end of freedom of expression in the stadium’
While Qatar’s involvement in Munich is limited to shirt sponsoring and training camps, its engagement in Paris is on a different level altogether. In 2011, Qatar Sports Investment (QSI), a subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, took over Paris Saint-Germain and has since bankrolled the club to seven Ligue 1 titles in eight years.
On Sunday, they will appear in the Champions League final for the first time and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, will reportedly fly to Lisbon to bask in the glow of the biggest game in club football and sample the fruits of his investments.
Back in Munich, Dr. Hüttl and his client are looking forward to the next hearing on October 15, when CCTV footage will be studied and at least one witness will take the stand.
“When such a banner is used as an excuse to prevent a club member from exercising his rights and to prevent a fan from attending games, that’s the end of freedom of expression in the stadium,” said Hüttl.
No critical supporters, no opinionated members, no uncomfortable banners — there will be none of that at the Estádio da Luz on Sunday night. One suspects that’s exactly how the Bayern Munich bosses prefer it.