Uefa has rejected a proposal from Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter to have the Allianz Arena lit up in rainbow colours ahead of Germany’s Group F match against Hungary on Wednesday for “political” reasons.
Rieter had lodged a request with Uefa asking for their permission to illuminate Bayern Munich’s stadium in rainbow colours, synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community, before the game as a “sign of tolerance and equality”.
The request came after Hungary’s parliament voted in favour of a new law banning gay people from featuring in TV shows for under-18s or school educational materials by 157 votes to one last week.
Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban, approved legislation banning same-sex couples from adopting children and forbidding transgender people from changing their gender from birth on official accounts last year.
However, Uefa has declined the request put forward by Munich’s city council as it believes that the gesture has a “political context” given the timing of the new law passed by the Hungarian parliament.
A Uefa statement read: “UEFA has yesterday received a request from the mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, on behalf of the city council, to have the arena in Munich illuminated in rainbow colours at the upcoming UEFA EURO 2020 group stage match between Germany and Hungary.
“In this letter, the mayor outlines the reasoning behind this request to be a political decision which has been taken by the Hungarian parliament.
“However UEFA, through its statutes, is a politically and religiously neutral organisation. Given the political context of this specific request — a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament — UEFA must decline this request.
“UEFA has nevertheless proposed to the city of Munich to illuminate the stadium with the rainbow colours on either 28 June — the Christopher Street Liberation Day — or between 3 and 9 July which is the Christopher Street Day week in Munich.”
In response to Uefa’s decision, Hungary’s foreign minister Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said: “Thank God that in the circles of European football leadership common sense still prevails and they did not play along with the political provocation. UEFA made the right decision.”
Uefa’s response comes quickly after the organisation dropped an investigation into Germany goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer for wearing a rainbow coloured armband during his team’s group stage matches against France and Portugal.
The governing body had initiated an investigation to determine whether or not Neuer had breached rules relating to “on-field political statements” before it emerged that the case had been closed.
On Sunday, Germany’s football association [Deutscher Fußball-Bund] confirmed the news, saying: “Uefa have today shared with the DFB that they have stopped the review of the rainbow captain’s armband worn by Manuel Neuer.
“In a letter, the armband has been assessed as a team symbol for diversity and thus for a ‘good cause.'”
Last week, anti-discrimination group Fare, sent an official report to Uefa outlining concerns at the behaviour of Hungarian fans during their team’s 3-0 defeat to Portugal in Budapest.
Banners with “Anti-LMBTQ” scrawled on them were seen in the crowd. Fans also held up a banner against players taking the knee before the match against France on Saturday.
During a match between Bayern Munich and Hoffenheim in January, the Allianz Arena shone in rainbow colours as part of a club campaign to promote diversity and tolerance.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3iZSEgb
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