UEFA asked its main sponsors, including the Volkswagen automaker, not to show advertising banners with the colors of the Raduga LGBT community at the Euro 2020 matches in Baku and St. Petersburg, reports Haqqin.az with reference to the Agence France-Presse.
The European Football Union has made such a decision by referring to the observance of local legislation.
“Due to UEFA’s concern for the legal base for objects in Russia and Azerbaijan, the Union informed us about the impossibility of using iris on billboards in St. Petersburg and Baku,” the German car giant Volkswagen says.
In response to the AFP request, the representative of the company said that, although UEFA “fully supports the” ideas “of tolerance and respect,” the European football union asks sponsors “to ensure compliance with local legislation, which did not work in the case of Baku and St. Petersburg .
The German Association of Gay and Lesbian (LSVD) expressed indignation by the position of UEFA, accusing a football organization in “arrogance and deception.” “With its actions, UEFA betrays not only representatives of LGBT in Azerbaijan and Russia, but also throughout Europe,” said Alfonso Pantisano press secretary.
Earlier at Euro 2020 during the group stage match between Germany and Hungary, Munich’s authorities wanted to illuminate the local rainbow color stadium in support of the LGBT community. It was planned to be made to Central Hungary, where at the legislative level banned the propaganda of homosexuality among minors. But UEFA refused the Munich authorities, the political context was fair in this.
Several European sponsors, including Volkswagen, broadcast rainbow advertising at stadiums during the 1/8 finals matches. The company stated that she would be allowed to show it during the quarterfinal in Rome and semi-finals and the final in London