Uli Hoeneß has a clear opinion on the World Cup in Qatar and he has recently made an effort to ensure that this opinion is heard, even if nobody asked for it. He called live on the soccer talk show “Doppelpass” on Sport1 in September when former Bundesliga manager Andreas Rettig criticized the emirate. Hoeneß called Rettig the “king of hypocrites” and argued that the World Cup and FC Bayern’s partnership with Qatar would improve conditions for workers in the country.
A few weeks later, after FC Bayern’s annual general meeting, he took on fan Michael Ott, who criticized the sponsorship agreement with Qatar Airways. Hoeneß instructed him on leaving the hall: “This is the Bayern Munich football club, not the general assembly of Amnesty International. You have to learn that!”
Well, shortly before the start of the World Cup, Hoeneß apparently said enough. In any case, he sat on the stage for a panel discussion in Munich’s Gasteig on Wednesday evening and declared after the most important arguments had been exchanged: “I don’t want to discuss much anymore.” Instead, he suggested: “Now let’s kick them.” He even warned: “The ball must not be forgotten.”
Pollsters suggest that Hoeneß, 70, does not meet the mood of everyone interested in football in the country. According to a survey by the institute YouGov, 39 percent want to watch fewer games than usual or no game at all. And the large number of events on the subject in pubs and theaters shows that there is still a need to speak before football kicks off on Sunday. The evening in Munich took a prominent place as the final point in the series “Qatar Talks – Talking right about the World Cup”.
Since August, there have been ten talks under this title in ten German cities, which looked at the tournament from every possible angle: human rights, ultras in the Arab world, geopolitics, everything was discussed. On Wednesday, the finale was moderated by Daniel Gerlach, editor-in-chief of the Middle East magazine Zenith, and cabaret artist Christian Springer, founder of the association “Orienthelfer”. In addition to the journalist Julia Leeb, the former national player and ARD expert Thomas Hitzlsperger was there, at least since the release of his film “Qatar – why only?” known as a harsh critic of the World Cup.
One question now was whether the honorary president of FC Bayern would perhaps express himself differently on the subject in this company than in the weeks before. The answer was: rather no.
He made a quite surprising statement after Hitzlsperger spoke about the “crimes” of the world football association in connection with the award of the World Cup. “Fifa has to be cleaned up, there’s no question about it,” Hoeneß replied. Exactly what or whom he meant by that remained open.
Otherwise he defended his line. Of course there are problems in Qatar, he said. You can see a lot of things critically, but “the way it was in Germany in the last few months is not okay”. The World Cup is a “beautiful football event”. He suggested that the situation in the emirate should be discussed again in the weeks and months that followed.
One of the 100 or so spectators, a young man, did not agree. At the end he spoke up. “Let the boys play first,” that was a “sad statement,” he said. Hoeneß did not want to comment on that. He just wants to watch football now. At least the entertaining games. He left open whether these will be those with the participation of the German team. “We’ll see,” he said.
