Hoeneß criticizes Germany’s infamous protests at the World Cup

In an interview with Sport1, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, Bayern Munich board member Ulrich “Uli” Hoeneß talked about Germany’s protest during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The 2022 World Cup was, of course one to forget for Germany. Exit in the group stages, national embarrassment, you’ve all read it before. But the team’s poor performances weren’t the only notable aspect of Germany’s World Cup. In the days leading up to the Germany’s first match of the World Cup against Japan, the headlines were dominated by FIFA banning the use of a rainbow captain’s armband in the Qatar World Cup and Germany’s attempts to overturn this.

Germany failed to do so but instead infamously protested by putting a hand over their mouths during the team photo prior of the Japan match, trying to demonstrate how they were being silenced. However, Germany then lost the game to Japan, drew with Spain and proceeded to get dumped out in the group stages, which led to a lot of people criticizing Germany for not focusing on football.

Uli Hoeneß seems to agree with that assessment. “If I were in charge of the national team, at some point I’ll say: stop it! During these four weeks, football must be the center of attention. That wasn’t the case for us at all.”

Of course, the failure in Qatar has destroyed Germany’s image in world football and Hoeneß is livid that this was allowed to happen. “The World Cup was also being discussed in other countries, but we are the big losers. Germany’s image has never been as bad as it was during the World Cup. We Germans believe that we alone can change the world.”

Hoeneß is also distraught that Germany missed most of one of the liveliest World Cups in recent history. “People wanted to have fun, the World Cup was wonderful in terms of entertainment. I can well imagine what countries like Morocco and Argentina felt like. We completely missed out on that.”

After a frustrating failure like that, Germany will look to rebuild. And, though he may have responsibilities at Bayern, it is safe to assume that Hoeneß will play his part, pushing hard to bring Germany back to its’ former glory.