Bayern Munich Chairman Oliver Kahn promised Saturday to find a “solution” following the World Cup in Qatar (from November 20 to December 18) regarding the sponsorship contract between the Bavarian club and Qatar Airways, which is strongly criticized by its fans.
“We will continue to discuss this issue intensively following the World Cup in Qatar. We will think carefully regarding everything, and then we will find a solution for Bayern Munich,” Kahn said during the club’s annual general assembly.
The sponsorship contract with Qatar Airways, the “platinum” partner of Bayern, i.e. the second-ranked sponsor, is the most important following the four partners who own shares, namely Allianz, Audi, Adidas and Telecom, valued at 20 million euros annually and expires at the end of the 2022-2023 season.
The previous General Assembly took place at the end of November 2021 in a stormy atmosphere, as the club’s supporters demanded not to renew the contract that allows Qatar Airways to display its logo on the sleeves of the club’s shirts.
The fans consider that the moral values of the club do not allow accepting money from a state-owned company accused of human rights violations.
“Our club is taken advantage of, and we have to live with that, for Qatar to use Bayern’s uncritical attitude. It is unacceptable,” Michael Ott, a spokesman for the fan groups, said on Saturday.
Kahn, like club president Herbert Hainer, insisted that dialogue and exchange of views were important to them.
“No one said that Qatar was a country that met all European standards,” Kan said. However, according to him, NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International considered that “the country is on the right track.”
Funds for the sponsorship contract with Qatar Airways are important to Bayern, which recorded revenues of 665.7 million euros for the 2021-2022 financial year, up from the previous season (643.9 million euros), but it fell to 750.4 million before the pandemic (2018-2019).
The group’s profit following tax increased to 12.7 million euros, compared to 1.9 million euros in the previous financial year, but it is far from 52.5 million euros in 2018-2019, before the outbreak of the epidemic.
