The corona pandemic is hitting full force again these days. Gladbach’s sports director Max Eberl knows about the role model function of football when it comes to the topic of vaccination, and therefore people of the public would also have to decide according to other parameters.
Vaccination is also a hot topic in football. Because it is also true for the professionals that they are free to decide. As an employer, the club can only make recommendations, says Eberl in an interview with “GladbachLive”, in the end it is up to each player and employee to decide for themselves. Gladbach seems to be on the right track.
Only one Gladbacher not yet vaccinated
“We here at Borussia still have one player who has not yet been vaccinated but will do so now. Then we will have reached a vaccination rate of 100 per cent in our licensed area. That means players and staff. And that’s exactly what we want to represent,” says the sports director. “We have a role model function – which we also want to live up to, possibly even have to. “
All the more criticism international Joshua Kimmich had to listen to when he admitted recently that he had not yet been vaccinated. “We can’t just decide for ourselves, we have a radiance to consider. The discussion about Joshua Kimmich is not present in this dynamic for nothing,” Eberl said in response. “By being so in the public eye in the Bundesliga, we have to pay a tribute at the same time. We have to weigh up exactly how we deal with our role model function. I think he has become aware in recent weeks that he is not only making decisions as Joshua Kimmich, but as one of the very great figureheads of German football. “
Eberl worries: “I hope that we bring the solidarity factor back into focus “
Despite this, Eberl argues that it is nonetheless up to each person to decide what they want to do for their health. The 48-year-old also sees a change or division in society as a result of the pandemic. “At the beginning of the pandemic, it was proclaimed that we want to go through this difficult time as a community. I hope that we will focus more on the solidarity factor again.” It is up to each and every one of us, he said.
