There were constructive discussions at the round table organised by FC Bayern on the subject of Qatar at the Allianz Arena on Monday. After their training camp in Doha in January 2020, Germany’s record champions announced they would host a factual dialogue. The event could not be implemented for a long time due to the pandemic, but it has now taken place with a high-calibre line-up with the participation of committed club members under the guidance of chair Christoph Heusgen, chairman of the Munich Security Conference. Heusgen summed up the event in a chairman’s statement after the event. The event was streamed live on the internet.
Herbert Hainer, FC Bayern president: “It was important to us as FC Bayern, our members and our fans that this round table could finally take place after the delays caused by the pandemic. We wanted to have an eye-to-eye exchange on this topic and it was important to us to get all parties around the table. FC Bayern would like to thank the participants, not least the representatives of our members, for their great commitment and their respective contributions.”
Oliver Kahn, FC Bayern CEO: “We invited to this round table to show that it is possible to meet beyond different opinions and attitudes. Football creates dialogue, and our goal was to achieve a better understanding of the development and situation in Qatar. I think we were all able to learn a few things today and take them with us for the future. There has never been a round table like this before.”
The participants in the round table, in addition to chair Heusgen, FCB president Hainer and CEO Kahn, were Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani (Qatari Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany), Hassan Al-Thawadi (head of the 2022 FIFA World Cup LLC), Stephen Cockburn (head of economic and social justice at Amnesty International), Sigmar Gabriel (chairman of Atlantik-Brücke e. V.; former Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany), Max Tuñón (head of the International Labour Organisation project office for the State of Qatar), Michael Windfuhr (deputy director of the German Institute for Human Rights), as well as Robin Feinauer and Michael Ott (both FC Bayern members).