By Mark Baber
February 3 – A German court has ruled former president of the German soccer federation Theo Zwanziger was exercising his right to free speech in referring to Qatar as a “cancerous growth of world football” just as Germany’s most successful club, Bayern Munich, signed a partnership with Qatar’s Hamad International Airport.
The District Court in Dusseldorf ruled on Tuesday that Theo Zwanziger was within his right to free speech in telling the Hessian radio station on 2 June 2015 that “I have always said that Qatar was a cancerous growth of world football. It all started with that decision” (referring to the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar).
The Qatar Football Association (QFA) has filed a civil lawsuit for slander and vilification over the comments, demanding €100,000 in damages and a court order to prevent Zwanziger from making similar comments again.
A final ruling on the case will not be made until April 19 after the judge has had time to study all the arguments, but it now looks likely Zwanziger, who is a trained lawyer and who argues his comments weren’t aimed at the QFA or anyone in particular, has won this battle.
Those critical of Qatar’s growing influence in football have been disappointed by Bayern Munich’s announcement that it is going into a commercial partnership with the Hamad International Airport.
Opposition to the deal has come from the Green party in the Bundestag and supporter group ‘Club Nr 12’ who argued the club should take moral considerations into consideration in their sponsorships.
Bayern Munich president Karl Hopfner countered criticisms saying, “For us, this is an economic deal for our club – in terms of revenue in the Premier League – it’s necessary,” Hopfner told SportBild. “We must now ensure that the immense funds from England do not jeopardize our squad.”
He added: “If politicians now want to make a name for themselves with criticism, that’s their business.
“Qatar has other investments in Germany at Volkswagen and a large bank. As our Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier rightly said, this is an economic factor and nothing else.”
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