In late November 2021, Bayern Munich’s Annual General Meeting descended into hostility and
chaos, and ended with 800 club members berating club president Herbert Hainer and chief executive
Oliver Kahn with chants of “We are Bayern, you are not! We are the fans you don’t want”.
But why?
Bayern Munich may be enjoying a period of unprecedented footballing dominance,
but for the last decade an off-the-pitch issue has been bubbling under the surface:
the club’s relationship with Qatar.
In 2010, a month after FIFA had awarded the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup, Bayern
travelled to Doha for their first winter training camp. Presented as a footballing decision,
they’ve returned to the Aspire Academy every year since, one covid absence aside. And, over time
and with increasing focus on the migrant worker crisis and other human rights issues in Qatar,
that tradition has become an increasing source of angst and embarrassment among some club members.
And in Germany, that matters. Bayern are run in accordance with the 50+1 rule,
which ensures that voting control of the club remains with its members,
and that ensures a level of accountability which doesn’t exist elsewhere in Europe,
particularly in England, where private ownership allows for more or less strategic autonomy.
The other implication of 50+1 is an issue which German clubs have long been trying to overcome.
Without the option of selling majority interests to wealthy investors,
they must rely on the more traditional revenue sources to compete continentally.
Income from matchdays, from broadcasting contracts and,
of course, and of particular relevance in Bayern’s case, commercial relationships.
And the latter is the source of controversy.
Since 2010, the club’s involvement with Qatar has been deepened. In January 2016,
Bayern announced a new sponsorship deal with Hamad International Airport in Doha, operated
by Qatar Airways, with then-CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge declaring it a "an important step"
in the club's "internationalisation strategy” and announcing also that “part of the cooperation is
that… together we will promote social projects and a dialogue over critical socio-political issues."
Although the deal did not make Qatar a stakeholder in Bayern, that was technically
already the case. ADIDAS, Allianz and Audi all hold an 8.33% interest in the club,
and the latter is a subsidiary of Volkswagen, in which Qatar holds just under a 15% share.
Following the agreement with HIA in 2016,
the airport’s logo appeared on the club’s training kit. And, in August 2017,
that was upgraded to the first-team kit, with HIA appearing as a sleave sponsor on Bayern’s shirt.
Less than a year later, in early 2018, it was announced that Qatar Airways would be replacing
Lufthansa as the club’s airline sponsor, becoming a platinum – or second-tier sponsor – at a cost of
around €10m-per-year more than the original HIA deal, on a deal due to last until 2023.
So, what happened at the November 2021 AGM?
Really, the culmination of growing dissatisfaction.
Anger over the relationship with Qatar had flared before, but never as publicly,
prominently or vividly as before a game with Freiburg, when supporters at the southern end of
the ground unfurled an enormous banner, showing club president Hainer holding a blood-spattered
vest and chief executive Kahn clutching a briefcase stuffed full of dollar bills.
“For money, we wash everything clean” read the caption,
as a clear accusation that the club was engaged in sportswashing on behalf of Qatar.
And this demonstration was partly in anticipation of an event which, in the aftermath, honorary club
president Uli Hoeness would describe as “the worst he’d ever experienced at FC Bayern."
Ahead of that AGM, a club member and lawyer
named Michael Ott submitted a motion which called for club members to vote
on whether to prevent the Qatar Airways sponsorship from being renewed in 2023.
“Qatar Airways is 100% owned by the Emirate of Qatar” it read. “This country stands for massive
human rights violations, and there moreover are serious charges of corruption in sports.
Instead of effecting change, FC Bayern is actively helping the Emirate of Qatar
with its sponsorship to draw attention away from these evils. With such “indifference,
FC Bayern damages its own reputation and “falls short of its status as an exemplary model.”
At the meeting itself, however, when Ott attempted to introduce his motion to the
roughly 800 members in attendance, Bayern’s vice president Dieter Meyer cut him off, citing a
breach of the club’s statutes and denying Ott the opportunity to make his argument or hold a vote.
Meyer was heavily jeered and booed, and as the atmosphere turned increasingly hostile,
Herbert Hainer leaned into his microphone to formally end the AGM,
leading to the scenes which were seen around the world and went viral across social media,
during which several members called for Hainer’s resignation.
“Whether it was legally O.K. or not to refuse the vote on this motion”
reflected Michael Ott, “it would have been a question of good character to
at least allow me to hold my speech that I had prepared.”
In the aftermath, Hainer also struck a conciliatory tone,
telling Kicker the following week that Bayern’s board were “analysing very carefully how this
course of the annual general meeting could come about” and promising also that they “will learn
from it, and it is certain that we will rethink and intensify communication with our members.”
Not that either stance really solves the situation. The club’s position
seems best represented by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who – as back in 2016 – has
consistently preached involvement with Qatar as a catalyst for social progress.
"We are of the opinion that we can achieve a great deal more by way of a dialogue than by a
permanently critical attitude," Rummenigge said as recently as 2021. "If you look at
the developments in Qatar since they've been involved in football, the country is developing.”
Nevertheless, with the 2023 renewal date for Qatar Airways’ sponsorship approaching
and the World Cup destined to keep the country and its human
rights record in an increasingly bright media spotlight for the rest of 2022,
Bayern Munich’s relationship with Qatar certainly won’t become any less divisive. Nor, with
increasing general scrutiny on sponsorships across Europe, is it likely to receive any less coverage.