Munich (Germany) (AFP)
Bayern Munich boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is furious with one of the club's youth coaches, whose alleged racist comments on a social network prompted the opening of an investigation by the Munich police on Wednesday.
These words "absolutely do not correspond with the values that the club defends", thundered Thursday Rummenigge, who promised that this incident would have "consequences", just before flying to Lisbon where his team is preparing for its quarterfinal. Champions League final Friday against Barcelona.
Bayern's internal investigation is almost over, he said, "this affair annoys me, I have to say it loud and clear, because we should not forget that we are a club that has always been committed against racism ".
On Tuesday, regional television channel WDR revealed the contents of an online discussion by a coach of one of the youth sections, whose name was not revealed. The man made comments with a racist connotation.
The suspect first assured that these extracts were fakes, before admitting that he was the author of the messages in question, according to the daily Bild.
The Munich police have opened an investigation, after sending the club four anonymous letters from parents of players since 2018, denouncing racist incidents.
- "Aryanized" in 1933 -
The youth section welcomes players aged 9 to 19 and no details have been given on the level at which the incidents took place.
Bayern Munich, like their national rivals Dortmund, are among the clubs that have long been committed to all forms of discrimination.
In June, shortly after the death in the United States of George Floyd, a black man suffocated by a police officer, the entire Munich team arrived at the warm-up before important matches with t-shirts bearing the slogan of the anti-protesters. racists in the United States "Black lives matter" and the inscription "Red card to racism".
Before the Floyd affair, Bayern had already launched a major anti-racist campaign in March, following isolated incidents in German stadiums.
The very history of the club is linked with that of discrimination. Founded by German Jews in 1900, Bayern was "Aryanized" with the advent of the Hitler regime in 1933, excluding all Jewish leaders and players.
Regarded nevertheless by the Nazis as "the club of the Jews", Bayern collapsed during the war and it was not until two decades after the Second World War to once again become a leading team in Germany.
© 2020 AFP