Uefa said “no” to the Munich mayor’s request to light up the city’s stadium with rainbow colors for the Euro 2020 match between Germany and Hungary on Wednesday. Dieter Reiter would have liked to protest against a new law that bans in Hungary that prohibits the dissemination, among minors, of any content that promotes homosexuality or gender change. The Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich, has already been illuminated in recent days with rainbow colors, a symbol of the fight against homophobia, while the goalkeeper from Germany and Bayern Manuel Neuer is playing the matches of the European championship with his arm the rainbow captain’s armband. And it is his intention to show it also in the match with the Magyars. For the German government, urged yesterday at a press conference in Berlin, the decisions in this regard are up to the German Football Association and the local Bavarian institutions.
“The colors of the rainbow symbolize the fact that we want to live with respect without discriminating against minorities,” said the government spokesman Steffen Seibert, recalling that the DFB has already made it known that it does not want to prevent Neuer from taking his initiative: ” a sign of the team in favor of pluralism and is valued as a good cause ». Uefa had opened an investigation and it was feared that the goalkeeper and the Federation would run into a fine, which later did not happen. Neuer had already brought this band in January with Bayern, as part of a club campaign to promote tolerance and diversity, and now he does so because the so-called “Pride Month” is underway, a month of initiatives dedicated to the LGBT movement. and he wants to continue to support social rights, in particular those linked to the LGBT world.
In a statement, UEFA wished to recall that “it is a politically and religiously neutral organization”. And then he explained his position: “Given the political context of this specific request – a message that has as its objective a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament – Uuefa must decline this request”. The association that organizes European football “has nevertheless proposed to the city of Munich to light up the stadium with the colors of the rainbow on June 28 – Christopher Street Liberation Day – or between July 3 and 9, the week of Christopher Street Day. in Munich ». The Christopher Street Day celebrations are held in memory of the homosexual uprising in New York in 1969. UEFA also stressed that it was involved in a series of diversity and inclusion campaigns “to promote the ethics that football should be open to all ».
The German Football Association (DFB) itself said on Monday that it would prefer any protest or gesture to take place on a date other than Wednesday’s match. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, on the other hand, said that “mixing politics and sport” is “harmful and dangerous”. “Everyone knows what it is – he told reporters -, we in Hungary have approved a law to protect Hungarian children, but in Western Europe there are those who protest and try to bring politics into a sporting event”. In conclusion: «I think this hurts a lot, the experience of history shows that it is wrong, and I think the Germans know it, if anyone knows it certainly very well. Therefore, mixing sport and politics is wrong ».