Union fans on the tribune display a banner reading "Son of a bitch" against TSG Hoffenheim club patron Dietmar Hopp during the German Bundesliga soccer match between 1. FC Union Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg, in Berlin
Protests against the German soccer federation and Hoffenheim backer Dietmar Hopp continued Sunday as Union Berlin’s Bundesliga game at home to Wolfsburg became the latest to have play interrupted over banners held up by fans.
Referee Bastian Dankert twice stopped the game – first briefly after Union fans displayed banners slamming the federation (DFB) for punishing fans who had criticized Hopp – then again for 11 minutes before half time when the supporters held up a banner with the word “son of a whore” in front of another with Hopp’s face in crosshairs.
The teams eventually played out a 2-2 draw.
During the second stoppage, stadium announcer Christian Arbeit told fans the game would be called off if it was halted for a third time. “Let’s play football,” he said before the game resumed for the rest of the first half.
The incidents followed similar protests against the DFB and Hopp by Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Freiburg fans on Saturday, and by Borussia Mönchengladbach supporters the previous weekend. The fans were reacting to the league’s decision on Feb. 21 to ban Dortmund supporters from Hoffenheim’s stadium for two years because of repeated offensive chants against Hopp.
Hopp, the billionaire co-founder of the SAP software giant, has faced insults from fans of rival clubs ever since he financed Hoffenheim’s rise from obscurity to the Bundesliga. They object to his opposition to the league’s 50+1 rule, which protects clubs from takeovers by a majority stakeholder. Hopp was granted an exception in 2015 due to his long-term support of Hoffenheim.
On Saturday, Bayern fans unfurled a banner criticizing the DFB and calling Hopp a “son of a whore” during their team’s game at Hoffenheim. The game ended in farce with the players casually passing the ball around to each other for the last 15 minutes after referee Christian Dingert twice suspended play.
Union fans’ first banner did not criticize Hopp directly, but the second did, leading to the lengthy hold-up before half time. It led to anger on the terraces toward the referee, the DFB and the fans responsible for holding up the banners against Hopp. Some Union fans got involved in heated arguments while others chanted against the DFB and were joined by their Wolfsburg counterparts.
Union striker Sebastian Andersson had scored against the run of play in the 41st, and another free kick from Christopher Trimmel led to captain Marvin Friedrich scoring Union’s second in the 57th.
But Yannick Gerhardt pulled one back three minutes later, and Wout Weghorst scored Wolfsburg’s equalizer in the 81st.
Leipzig was playing Bayer Leverkusen later.
