The draw of the hockey Champions League pitted the Polish champion Auschwitz against the German champion Eisbären Berlin.
Photo: Profimedia
Fans of the Auschwitz Union.
However, more than the 4:1 result for the visiting favorites, the controversial choreo of the home fans is being resolved after Saturday’s match.
In addition, the German media write that the Auschwitz fans booed the German national anthem in unison before the matches.
Unia Oświęcim dominated the Polish league after twenty years, thanks to which they qualified for the Champions League for the first time in history. At the beginning, she unexpectedly won a point on the ice of the Finnish Ilves. And on Saturday, it welcomed hockey players from Berlin on its ice.
Three thousand home fans sold out the winter stadium in a city of 40,000 people in the south of Poland and already before the duel they prepared a harsh message for the opponent.
“Welcome to the city of your greatest crimes,” was written in large letters on a sheet hung over the entire cauldron with a reminder of the Nazi crimes in the concentration and extermination camps of Auschwitz and Březinka during the Second World War.
In the middle of the chorea, the inscription “German death camps” was depicted in the colors of the German flag, the background was black barbed wire. An estimated 1.3 million people, mostly Jews, perished in the Auschwitz complex between 1940 and 1945.
The Berlin hockey players themselves visited the memorial in Auschwitz on Friday. The club gave German fans recommendations before the trip. He recommended that they be sensitive. “We don’t have to discuss the fact that this is not an ordinary match,” said club spokesman Leo Imme.
A rough welcome from Union fans may have repercussions from the management of the Champions League.
According to polishpuck.com sources, the club will face a financial fine. “We heard that the CHL is very upset about the banner. The competition is prohibited from any inscriptions that present political opinions,” the aforementioned website reads.
The CHL had its representatives at the game, who demanded that the fans take down the poster immediately. Subsequently, the Polish Cross-Check IHP podcast was blocked on social networks for sharing photos of the mentioned banner.
This is not the first time that a Polish club has faced disciplinary action from the CHL for a “German death camp” banner, GKS Tychy was also fined for the same offense in 2020.
The Auschwitz memorial is located only six kilometers from the local arena.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
