When Uli Hoeneß speaks, the football world listens: At a talk event, he reveals his concerns about FC Bayern’s place in international football. The background is the apparently planned top club purchases by investors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Bayern Munich’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß fears that the German soccer champions will find it increasingly difficult to keep up with other top international clubs in the future. “One almost has to worry that a few clubs from the Middle East in particular will be bought up in the next year or two. There is talk of Qatar wanting to buy Manchester United and Saudi Arabia wanting to buy Liverpool FC. Then it will be funny for us. Then the game without borders is recorded, “said the long-time Bayern manager and president in Hanover at a talk event of the “Neue Presse”.
Hoeneß basically sees two problems when dealing with investor funds in international football: That the regulatory measures, the financial rules of UEFA did not work. And that the 50 1 rule in German football prevents investors from entering a Bundesliga club. “We would be totally in favor of the 50 1 rule falling because we are totally falling behind internationally,” said the 71-year-old about Bayern’s position.
Against this background, Hoeneß particularly likes the fact that his team recently won in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, which belongs to a sovereign wealth fund from Qatar. “It excites me to win against them,” he said. “The day before yesterday proved that money doesn’t always score goals. As long as they don’t play better than on Tuesday, I don’t have any problems.” The Munich team won the first leg of the round of 16 in Paris 1-0. Kingsley Coman had scored in the long convincing and late shaky win.
In addition, Hoeneß criticized what he believed to be insufficient influence of FC Bayern on the German Football Association and the German Football League. “The influence of FC Bayern on German football in the DFL and DFB area is too little for me. It can’t be that the most important German club is so little represented there,” he said. The background to his criticism is that Hans-Joachim Watzke of all people from Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund is currently spokesman for the DFL Executive Committee and Vice President of the DFB. “That not only has something to do with Watzke himself. It also has to do with the fact that our people are a bit too reserved.”
