Bayern Munich president Herbert Hainer took time in his November interview with Abendzeitung to address a club member’s scrutiny of a new deal with Emirates, an airline owned by the United Arab Emirate’s
Investment Corporation of Dubai.
Emirates also features AC Milan, Arsenal, Olympique Lyonnais, Real Madrid, and SL Benfica in its sponsorship portfolio, and the English FA Cup bears its name.
The deal, billed as a ‘platinum contract’, was announced in August, with Bayern deputy CEO Michael Diederich hailing the new ‘shining’ partner as “an ideal fit for our club’s family of partners”. It is a position which led Michael Ott, a lawyer and FC Bayern club member who has previously advocated for Bayern to cut ties with Qatar, to declare the he feels ‘ashamed for Bayern’.
“He’s more concerned with himself,” Hainer said in comments captured by @iMiaSanMia. “He’s seeking the limelight. You can find something to do with any sponsor. We’re an international club; we need certain financial resources. I think we Germans shouldn’t always be pointing fingers at others”.
There is no love lost between Bayern executives and Mr. Ott, who was mocked at the latest Annual General Meeting by club CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen.
“Mr. Ott, it’s good to see you again. I missed you last year. Maybe you were on vacation, but hopefully not on a flight,” Dreesen said at this year’s AGM (as captured by GFFN). “Of course, we look at every sponsor we take on. But we cannot, will not, and do not want to answer geopolitical questions that are the responsibility of politicians.”
Dreesen’s comments were met with applause.
Ott was at the center of the chaotic 2021 AGM at which he put forward a motion to wind down Bayern’s relationship with Qatar Airways — a partnership which ultimately did end in 2023.
The 2021 AGM featured shouts of “Hainer out” from the crowd, and Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeneß was quoted as telling off Ott afterwards — saying, “Your appearance was embarrassing. This is Football Club Bayern München and not the general assembly of Amnesty International.”
A 2024 report from Amnesty International detailed the United Arab Emirates government’s efforts in “criminalizing the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”, highlighting “unfair trials” of dissidents, “torture and other ill-treatment” of prisoners, and citing concerns of the rights of migrant workers in the wake of a dengue fever outbreak.
At this year’s AGM, Bayern made its position clear.
“We stand by this partnership [with Emirates] and will continue to do so in the future. Professional sport ultimately depends on us being able to pay for it,” Dreesen (again via GFFN) concluded.
