UEFA prohibits Munich arena rainbow lighting

European football's governing body, UEFA, has turned down a request by councilors in Munich to illuminate the city's football arena in rainbow colors for Germany's game against Hungary on Wednesday, according to reports in German media.

The councilors had wanted to send a message of solidarity to LGBT+ people in Hungary after the Hungarian government approved legislation last week outlawing the distribution of information considered to promote homosexuality or non-binary gender identities among minors.

"This law represents a new nadir in the disenfranchisement of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people," read the motion, which was supported by all political factions on the council. "[Munich] supports diversity, tolerance and genuine equality in sport and in society."

'UEFA stipulate a uniform stadium design'

But just a day after dropping an investigation into Germany captain Manuel Neuer's decision to wear a rainbow-colored captain's armband as part of international Pride Month, UEFA has forbidden any change to the lighting around the stadium in the Munich suburb of Fröttmaning, according to German tabloid Bild.

"UEFA stipulate a uniform stadium design and there are good reasons to carry this out," German Football Association (DFB) press officer Jens Grittner was quoted as saying. "Perhaps we don't necessarily have to illuminate the arena on matchday on Wednesday."

According to the report, the stadium's outer shell, which has thus far displayed the national colors of Germany and their first two opponents France and Portugal, is to be lit up in rainbow colors on June 28 instead, Christopher Street Day, Europe's annual LGBT+ celebration.

Earlier, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert had said: "The rainbow flag stands for how we want to live: with respect for each other and against discrimination." Bavaria's State Premier Markus Söder also showed his support for the illumination. "It would signal the freedom for which our society stands," he said.

UEFA itself runs an "Equal Game" campaign in which it promotes a "vision that everyone should be able to enjoy football, regardless of who they are, where they are from or how they play the game." In August 2019, the body tweeted in relation to that year's Pride festivities: "Proud that EURO 2020 will be a tournament for everyone #EqualGame."

After they forbade organizers in Munich from displaying rainbow colors, however, Eintracht Frankfurt board member Axel Hellman tweeted: "If Munich isn't allow, then other stadiums in Germany should fly the flag. Come on, Bundesliga colleagues! Frankfurt's stadium will display the rainbow for the game against Hungary. The Waldstadion remains colorful!"

Sport and politics in Hungary

According to Hungarian news agency MTI, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had criticized the plans in Munich. "It is extremely dangerous to mix sport and politics. Historical experience shows that that is a bad thing, and Germans know that better than anyone," he said.

However, Hungary's current ruling Fidesz party under nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has itself explicitly used football as a platform to showcase its politics, investing over €2 billion in the sport since 2010.

The Puskas Arena in Budapest, opened in 2019 at a cost of €530 million ($632 million), is the only venue at Euro 2020 operating at full capacity as Orban looks to demonstrate his success in dealing with the coronavirus. Almost 30,000 Hungarians have died from the virus, giving Hungary the second-worst death rate per capita in the world, behind Peru.

During Hungary's first two games against Portugal and France, the blocks behind the goal were occupied by the black-shirted members of the Carpathian Brigade, a group that experts have described as consisting of extreme-right ultras, hooligans and neo-Nazis from across the country. Against Portugal, they displayed an anti-LGBT+ banner. Ahead of kickoff against France, they marched behind a flag that rejected the act of taking the knee.

Budapest has already stepped in as an alternative location this year, staging RB Leipzig and Borussia Mönchengladbach "home games" in last season's Champions League due to travel restrictions elsewhere in Europe.

And there have even been reports in the United Kingdom that UEFA are considering moving the Euro 2020 semifinals and final from London's Wembley Stadium to Budapest if the UK government cannot guarantee quarantine exemptions for 2,500 UEFA sponsors, officials and VIPs.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has said he would like the final to be moved to Rome.