Uli Hoeneß calls in the "double pass" and rages on

In the "double pass" of Sport 1, the situation in football was discussed, as it was on this Sunday morning. Since the Bundesliga is pausing this weekend, the regulars' table was more about the struggling national team and soon about the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

A critical guest had been invited to the group for this purpose. Andreas Rettig, formerly managing director of the Bundesliga (Bundesliga) and FC St. Pauli, is a declared opponent of the tournament being awarded to the emirate. A lack of human rights, homophobia, exploited workers - there are a number of things to criticize about Qatar.

Rettig did this and thus drew the ire of the Honorary President of FC Bayern. However, he was not in the studio, but watched the show privately. So Uli Hoeneß picked up the phone and called the broadcaster. Of course someone like him is put through, so that the 70-year-old was soon on the show live. Now he gave free rein to his dislike of Rettig. In the past few years, he had increasingly spoken out against the financial excesses in professional football and not only made friends with it.

“I would like to ask Andreas Rettig, the king of hypocrites,” Hoeneß began, “whether he also takes cold showers in winter and the gas that we will soon be getting from Qatar, whether he has ever thought about it. "

Hoeneß also went on a ride through a few other countries: "When the problem arose in Afghanistan, all the German people (...) were flown out with the help of Qatar. Only Qatar is talked about, not Dubai, Kuwait and so on. The only country where things are getting better is Qatar. When the World Cup was awarded, there was a lot of criticism of Qatar. The workers in Qatar are better off because of the World Cup than without.”

And with that, the topic was also discussed, Hoeneß found: "One should finally accept that and not constantly hit people. With Chancellor Scholz flying to Qatar and the German national team coming, the working conditions will be better.”

It is about "diverse sources" and "long-term further development", said Chancellor Olaf Scholz on his trip to Qatar. But negotiating the LNG contracts is difficult, reports WELT reporter Achim Unser - because Qatar relies on long terms.

Source: WORLD

Incidentally, the chancellor himself was in Doha on Sunday and came to a somewhat different conclusion than Hoeneß. “We take note that there is also progress on issues that had to be fought for a long time, such as the situation of employees. Even if that still doesn't correspond to the ideas we have ourselves," said the 64-year-old.

Of course, Rettig didn't just leave the Hoeneß tirade in the TV studio. "I'm not surprised, Mr. Hoeneß, that you, as Qatar's ambassador, are arguing like that. You have been associated with the house for years. The fact that they are speaking pro domo is not surprising given the question,” he began. The examples from the other countries in the Arab region that Hoeneß cited "are therefore not expedient, because none of them have held a World Cup, as is now the case with Qatar. You can see that the long journey of the Qataris is also affecting them when it comes to sports washing.”

Rettig said that on Saturday he was at an event “organized by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, among others, where Amnesty International and a blogger from Kenya were present. You should have a chat with him. Because he was there. Let him explain the circumstances in this country to you, how people work there. We shouldn't be chasing after the issues conveyed by the Qatari propaganda: Everything is on the way - and it's getting better. I can only hope that Mr Neuendorf (DFB President, the editors) will get his way on the subject of the fund for victims of construction sites, where thousands of workers have died. I would recommend that they broaden the sources they tap into in the near future."

He still had one question, Hoeneß said to Rettig: "Have you ever been to Qatar?"

No, he replied, it's not one of his "preferred travel destinations".

"I've been to Qatar," Hoeneß replied, he was able to look around there: "It would be good if you could go there and see things on the spot."

"But Mr. Hoeneß, Mr. Beckenbauer didn't see any slaves there either. Then everything is fine," Rettig countered, alluding to the famous quote by Franz Beckenbauer from 2013 ("Well, I haven't seen a single slave in Qatar. They're all running around freely."), when he asked for the conditions of the workers on the World Cup construction sites in Qatar.

"I'm assuming that you would search a little more intensively," said Hoeneß. He can assume that, Rettig concluded the controversial exchange of blows.

The 59-year-old Rettig had previously spoken about FC Bayern, which – as has been the case for years – will fly to the training camp in Qatar: “If a DAX company in which Qatar is involved decides which shareholder to take, that’s the decision the shareholders. If the club FC Bayern, which belongs to the members, says that they don't want that, then this will has to be accepted. That's a major difference. That's why I didn't understand FC Bayern's argument in the discussion. With this policy of turning a blind eye, we are where we are.”

Hoeneß continued in the direction of Rettig: "If we don't buy anything anywhere in the near future and don't work with countries where human rights aren't handled the way we are, then we can close our shop. And all the smartasses who argue as incredibly catastrophically as you should think about that, thank you very much.”