Dortmund fans protest against sponsorship by arms manufacturer

DORTMUND, Germany — Borussia Dortmund fans plan to open the Bundesliga season with major protests against the club’s sponsorship deal with German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall.

“We will not let ourselves be carried away,” the supporters’ association Südtribüne Dortmund said on Wednesday in a statement on behalf of more than 90 Dortmund fan groups.

“We strongly reject the idea that BVB’s management and committees have agreed to use Borussia Dortmund’s appeal to improve the public image of an arms company and thereby throw their own values ​​overboard.”

Dortmund announced on May 29 that they had signed a three-year sponsorship deal with Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall, three days before the team played Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

Rheinmetall, the world’s largest maker of artillery ammunition, expects to achieve record group sales of about €10 billion ($11.1 billion) this year, a move helped by conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere.

In February, the company announced construction of a new plant at its current site in Unterluess in northern Germany, with an annual production capacity of 200,000 artillery shells, 1,900 tons of explosives and possibly also rocket motors and nuclear warheads.

The company was founded in 1889 as “Rheinische Metallwaaren- und Maschinenfabrik Actiengesellschaft” and was one of Germany’s largest arms manufacturers during both world wars. It used forced labor during World War II.

The news about Rheinmetall’s sponsorship of Dortmund came as a “bombshell”, according to Südtribüne. According to the organization, no fan representatives were consulted at any time during the negotiations.

“The timing (of the announcement) suggests that the reaction to this controversial decision was deliberately intended to be overshadowed by coverage of the Champions League final,” the group said. “Negative effects on fans were deliberately considered.”

Südtribüne called on all Dortmund fans attending Saturday’s home game against Eintracht Frankfurt to make their objections to the deal known.

“Make sure you have signs and/or banners ready with which you can express your criticism at the start of the second half,” said Südtribüne.

Organisers of a petition against the deal said they would protest outside the stadium with a tank decorated in Dortmund colours and an activist dressed as Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger. They said they would place signs around the stadium and hand out flyers.

Dortmund chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke previously defended the deal.

“When we see every day how freedom in Europe has to be defended. We have to deal with this new normality,” Watzke said.