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Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - Professional football has taken off and lives in its own world even during the corona pandemic: Many critics have seen this prejudice confirmed in the past few days by the statements of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge alone.
The Bayern boss recently said that a Munich title at the Club World Cup would “look good on our country too”.
Rummenigge explicitly emphasized the importance of the club and the competition when FC Bayern was not allowed to take off from BER airport to Qatar as planned due to the night flight ban.
After Bayern arrived in Qatar after a lot of chaos and tirades, the 65-year-old Bayern boss talked about football stars as possible vaccination models and was promptly criticized again.
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The sports sociologist Gunter Gebauer assumed Rummenigge in the ARD sports show self-interest and emphasized in principle that a preferred vaccination of professional athletes was "deeply anti-social and morally not permissible".
Even if the sport is not threatened by another corona-related shutdown like in spring 2020, the past few days have been a foretaste of what lies ahead: debates about additional travel for home games in the European Cup or preferred vaccinations, for which there are no specific requirements so far, not even from Rummenigge .
"No footballer - all young and healthy people - should take away a vaccination from older people or caregivers, police officers and teachers at this point in time," said Dortmund's sports director Michael Zorc.
On Thursday also attacked Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) Rummenigge and criticized him for the suggestion to use the footballers as role models.
“What particularly amazed me about this saying is how one tries to simply push ahead with“ I want to be vaccinated first ”and then sell it as a realization of a role model in society.
You first have to come up with it by saying: We're going past educators, elementary school teachers, maybe also medical staff and police officers, ”said Bovenschulte.
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“We don't want to push our way at all, but footballers could make a contribution to society as role models,” Rummenigge suggested at Sport1.
Bovenschulte sees it completely differently.
“I can think of a number of ways in which football professionals could live up to their role model role in the pandemic.
For example, you could forego participating in tournaments that are worthless in terms of sport and travel halfway around the world, ”complained the 55-year-old with a view to the Club World Cup.
The SPD sports politician Dagmar Freitag had previously made a similar statement and suggested to RTL / ntv that the German record champions could also act as a role model by “using a fraction of his considerable income to advertise and TV spots with the team for to advertise vaccination ».
Rummenigge had justified his move with the fact that trust in the population would grow if, for example, a FC Bayern player had himself vaccinated.
For Ilkay Gündogan, when it comes to traveling, “the most important thing is the safety of all participants, that everyone stays healthy.
On the other hand, I still feel privileged that I can still do my job, ”said the Manchester City professional in an interview with Sky.
He keeps hearing from friends in Germany that the Bundesliga or watching the Premier League is "the only normal thing in your life," said the 30-year-old.
"It's also nice to hear that you can give these people a bit of normalcy in these difficult times, but ultimately, of course, their health comes first."
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Quite apart from any vaccination debate about professional athletes, which is not on the political agenda at the moment or in the near future, trips to European Cup games will also continue to cause discussions.
Leipzig (against Liverpool) and Gladbach (against Manchester City) play their home games in the Champions League in Budapest because professionals from England are not allowed to travel to Germany due to the corona.
Norway's Club Molde FK welcomes TSG Hoffenheim in Villarreal, Spain.
“The bottom line is that we live in a bubble.
Nevertheless, I can understand this moral debate, ”said TSG coach Sebastian Hoeneß.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210211-99-399768 / 5
Rummenigge statements in sports 1
Classification of the groups for the corona vaccination
Gebauer interview at sportschau.de
Bovenschulte statements