The circumstances around the award of the World Cup to Qatar in 2010 were scandalous. The award criteria have to be significantly more transparent in the future. Qatar came out on top in the fourth round of voting in 2010 although it was the least suitable of all applications for hosting a World Cup according to FIFA's own audit reports. Out of eight new World Cup stadiums, seven were new-build projects. Football culture does not exist in Qatar. From our perspective, that is a knockout criterion for a potential World Cup host. And for that reason we believe the World Cup should never have been awarded to Qatar.
Extreme political attitudes of a host country, homophobia, the denial of freedom of expression and women's rights plus unacceptable working conditions in the country staging a World Cup are completely contrary to the basic values we stand for at this club. In this respect, Bayer 04 supports the DFB in their endeavours and in their emphatic commitment to achieve transparency and to our free and democratic value system.
Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, is a member of the board of the European Club Association (ECA). He will visit Qatar in December for a board meeting and a range of other discussions. The Spaniard takes the following position: "Questions ignored in the award of this tournament twelve years ago on the human rights situation, on equality and the freedom of expression in the host country will justifiably accompany this World Cup. We now need to work towards making the award criteria for a World Cup significantly more transparent in the future. I will campaign for that in the name of Bayer 04."
As a club, we also look at this World Cup from the perspective of our players. They have worked for years for their sporting objectives and this World Cup could be the high point of the football careers of some of them. In our opinion, we believe it would be wrong not to report on this. Therefore, we will report on our international players at the World Cup and their sporting achievements and follow their appearances on the World Cup stage. We believe the players cannot be made responsible for the award of the competition to Qatar twelve years ago. Accordingly, they have our respect, our support and editorial backing.
As part of the joint commitment of Bayer 04 and the City of Leverkusen to volunteering, the annual Volunteer Day took place in the 19nullvier Lounge at the BayArena. Fernando Carro, Bayer 04 CEO, Stefan Hebbel, Mayor of the City of Leverkusen, and club representative Stefan Kießling praised the commitment of the 200 or so volunteers from the region in attendance and thanked them for their impressive efforts.
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After three defeats in a row, the Bayer 04 Women are aiming to get back on track against RB Leipzig. In the home game on Saturday (14:00 CET) at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium, coach Roberto Pätzold will probably be able to count on two key players recently sidelined due to injury.
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The clubs in the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga will set up the Frauen-Bundesliga FBL e.V. On 10 December. The clubs have joined together to open a new chapter in the history of German women's football.
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In his 13 years as a professional player at Bayer 04, the honorary captain and record goalscorer made 446 appearances scoring 238 goals along the way. Many of them remain unforgotten, including his header to win the DFB Pokal in 1993. Ulf Kirsten celebrates his 60th birthday today Thursday - and Bayer 04 are happy to take this opportunity to look back on some of the former number nine’s special goals and games. But first of all: Happy Birthday, dear Ulf!
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