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Bayern Munich react to criticism on their visit to Saudi Arabia

FC Bayern München

FC Bayern München

German giants FC Bayern Munich have released a statement as a reaction to criticism on their visit to Saudi Arabia last week.

Bayern travelled to Saudi Arabia at the end of their week-long winter training camp in Qatar to take on Al-Hilal FC in Riyadh. The German won the match 4-1 ccourtesy to goals scored by Dante (9′), Bastian Schweinsteiger (11′), Robert Lewandowski (39′) and Claudio Pizarro (61′).

But the German champions had to face critical statements from various German MPs who accused the club of turning blind eye to human rights in Saudi Arabia.

Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge reacted to the critical statements with an official release on the club website.

Statement by Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Chairman, FC Bayern Munich:

We have noted diverse critical commentaries in recent days regarding FC Bayern München’s friendly match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 17 January 2015.

FC Bayern München as a club condemns all forms of cruel punishment that are not consistent with human rights, as in the current case involving blogger Raif Badawi, a critic of Islam. It would have been better to clearly address this on the occasion of our match in Saudi Arabia.

Leading German politicians will also be travelling to Saudi Arabia in the near future. The authority to establish policy in this matter fundamentally lies with politics. We are a football club and not political policy-makers, but naturally everyone, i.e. ourselves included, ultimately bears responsibility for compliance with human rights.

On behalf of FC Bayern München I would again make clear: Our club in particular has always opposed all forms of discrimination, violence and racism. We have been and will continue to be strong advocates of tolerance. When football goes on its travels it is always in part to promote international understanding, and human rights are an integral value within this.

Signed

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Chairman
FC Bayern München AG