Borussia Dortmund fans announce plans to protest new sponsorship deal
The club has an agreement with Rheinmetall, a weapons and technology company.
The “Söderbühne” group (which is always present in the south stand) called on groups of fans to prepare banners and signs to show their discontent at the start of the second half of the match against Eintracht Frankfurt scheduled to be held next Saturday in the German League (Bundesliga).
“We will not be fooled by you,” said a statement signed by fan groups. “We strongly reject the fact that Borussia’s leaders and all its committees agreed to use the club’s appeal to improve the public image of an arms company, abandoning their own values in the process.”
The statement said that fan groups were not involved at any point in the process that led to the three-year deal, which was announced in late May and has drawn criticism from the start.
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Weitzke described security and defence as “fundamental pillars of our democracy” and spoke of a “new normal”.