Major grocery chain has scrapped its advertising campaign with the German Football Association

 

One of Germany's biggest supermarket chains with group-wide annual sales of 76.5 billion euros ($78.5 billion), makes it the first sponsor to take action after FIFA threatened to issue yellow cards to any player wearing the multi-colored armband at the World Cup.

German sportswear group Adidas (ADSGn.DE), carmaker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) and carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said separately they would keep their deals with the DFB, though all three said they championed diversity.

The case is the latest headache for sponsors involved in the World Cup in Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal and where authorities have come under fire for deaths among migrant workers who helped build stadiums for the tournament.

It comes after FIFA's last-minute decision not to allow the beer to be sold at Qatar's World Cup stadiums, dealing a blow to beer maker AB InBev, a sponsor of the tournament.

"We stand up for diversity - and football is also diversity. We live this position and we defend it," said Rewe Group Chief Executive Lionel Souque. "FIFA's scandalous attitude is absolutely unacceptable."

The decision reflects Germans' negative mood towards the tournament both online, with the hashtag #BoycottQatar2022 trending on Twitter in Germany, and on the ground with protests, including a German stadium lighting 20,000 candles for Qatar migrant worker fatalities on Sunday.

Almost half of Germans are in favor of sponsors and politicians boycotting the event and more than two-thirds see a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the tournament as unnecessary, a University of Hohenheim survey showed on Monday.