The “Hinti-Cup” becomes a disaster in advance, it causes a lot of trouble for Martin Hinteregger. Because his business partner is an Austrian right-wing populist. He distances himself, saying he knew nothing about it. His club Eintracht Frankfurt demands clarification, a personal conversation fails for the time being.
Contacts in the right-wing scene, this accusation weighed heavily, and Eintracht Frankfurt wanted to clarify it directly – but Martin Hinteregger could not be reached at first. Those responsible for the club tried, said Eintracht, “but could only discuss the matter with his advisor”.
On Instagram, however, Hinteregger had already reacted at noon and defended himself. “I have friends all over the world through my time in professional football and also privately,” Hinteregger wrote, “and I clearly reject accusations that I am right-wing and continue to fight against any kind of discrimination.”
The following happened: Hinteregger wanted to hold a hobby tournament in his home town of Carinthia next week. However, a well-known right-wing populist from Austria was also involved in the organization of the “Hinti-Cup” in FPÖ politician Heinrich Sickl. “I have no knowledge of past or future activities on the part of the Sickl family, I just want to hold a football tournament and nothing more,” said the Austrian international. He will now break off “any business relationship with the Sickl family with immediate effect based on the current state of knowledge” and the “Hinti Cup event will also be examined as an alternative”.
Eintracht reacted to the process in the afternoon, even without having spoken directly to the player. The club have “no doubts that Hinteregger is a character who is close to his homeland, but also cosmopolitan and tolerant, to whom discrimination is alien.” There can therefore be “no compromises in this situation, especially not on the backs of the fans who, in good faith, wanted to travel to Sirnitz to play a football tournament and now run the risk of being involuntarily drawn into a debate on their position simply by taking part .”
Eintracht had previously had no knowledge of “the content and form” of Hinteregger’s business relationships, and the Austrian “planned the event completely independently and on his own”. A “clear distancing” is necessary. Eintracht President Peter Fischer has always been personally concerned with the fight against dangers from the far right, and time and again he speaks out loudly and publicly against any form of discrimination.
“Anyone who wears the Eintracht Frankfurt jersey cannot at the same time enter into a conscious business relationship with a person who has repeatedly given political testimony in word, deed and office that they stand for exclusion, discrimination, racism and social division,” it said in the club statement.
