After the 1:1 against Cologne, Christian Heidel was also asked about the debate on compulsory vaccinations for professional footballers. The Mainz sports director’s answer turned into a reckoning with various political leaders in Germany.
He had himself injected with the booster vaccine a few days ago in his adopted home of Mallorca: “With this,” explains Christian Heidel, “I simply have a better feeling. What he would like most of all is “if everyone had themselves vaccinated”. And “my personal opinion is,” says the 58-year-old, “if we can’t get it done any other way, I wouldn’t object to compulsory vaccination either.” What infuriates the Mainz sports director, however, are calls from politicians for compulsory vaccinations for professional footballers, most recently propagated by name by Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and his NRW colleague Hendrik Wüst (CDU). “I can only be surprised when very, very important decisions are made for our country at the Conference of Minister-Presidents,” emphasises Heidel, “and the first statement afterwards is: The footballers on the pitch also have to comply with 2G. I have the impression that this topic is being put in the foreground in order to gloss over other problems, namely what has happened politically in the last few months.
“The vaccination rate in politics is not nearly as high as in football “
He explained that Heidel was “aiming a bit at Mr Söder” and added: “I wanted to point out that there is no other sector in Germany with such a high vaccination rate as professional football. I would be interested to know the vaccination rate of the German Bundestag. Nobody talks about that at all – but about not even 100 people in football. Politicians have just as much of a role model function. But the vaccination rate in politics is not nearly as high as in football.” In Heidel’s view, this is true even if one disregards the AfD representatives. To focus on professional football is, in Heidel’s eyes, simply: “populism.” Moreover, “the actual topic should be pushed into the background: That we in Germany are always running behind when it comes to Corona. I live in Spain from time to time: We in Germany could learn a thing or two from the way they manage it.
“What FC Bayern does would be 100 per cent the same in Mainz “
The thing that upsets Heidel the most is “when, with regard to footballers, it’s also said: these highly paid people. Talking about income in connection with vaccination – that’s the worst argument there is.” The best arguments on his side, on the other hand, were FC Bayern’s decision not to pay salaries to unvaccinated players during their quarantine period. Heidel: “I think what FC Bayern does is completely normal. A player has to go into quarantine as a contact person because he hasn’t been vaccinated and therefore doesn’t come to training – why should he be paid? I would have been surprised if FC Bayern had gone a different way. It would be done 100 per cent the same way in Mainz.” At the 05ers, however, “apart from one person, for whom there are certain reasons”, according to Heidel, “the entire department has been inoculated anyway”. For Heidel, it is obvious that the issue will continue to accompany professional football for quite some time: “At a tournament like the World Cup in Qatar next winter, I am curious to see whether they will take the risk of taking unvaccinated players with them. That’s for Hansi Flick and the other national coaches to decide. “
