Return of Jérôme Boateng: FC Bayern is creating a problem for itself

Good morning, dear readers,

In the Bundesliga, FC Bayern Munich is already lonesome at the top of the table with seven wins from the first seven games. The German record champions have also not lost a point in the Champions League. The team is playing more consistently than it has in years. So it could be an ideal world on Säbener Strasse. But the past has shown that Bavaria is not in a perfect world. And so you create a completely unnecessary problem: Jérôme Boateng.

The defender’s sporting merits are undisputed: with Munich he won the championship several times and the Champions League twice. Now Boateng, who recently ended his career, would like to do an internship with Bayern at the invitation of Vincent Kompany. A completely normal path for a professional footballer who wants to become a coach one day and gets a taste of his former club.

What brings the fans of FC Bayern to the barricades in the Boateng case, because the former world champion is not a normal football professional. The 37-year-old has had to answer in court several times in recent years for allegations of violence against women and allegations of bodily harm. In 2024 the former world champion became found guilty and warned by the Munich I Regional Court for intentional bodily harm to an ex-girlfriend. In the case of Kasia Lenhardt, Boateng’s ex-girlfriend, who committed suicide in February 2019, the investigation was closed at the beginning of the year.

The cause is becoming a problem for Bayern: At the weekend, fans protested at the Bundesliga clash against Borussia Dortmund, holding banners with “No place for perpetrators,” “Anyone who gives the perpetrator space shares his guilt” or “Piss off, Boateng”. The fans had already protested vehemently in 2023 when Boateng was a training guest at Säbener Straße. It cannot be ruled out that there will also be protests at the Champions League home game against Club Bruges this evening (kick-off: 9 p.m.).

The real problem for the club is that it doesn’t see a problem with internships. “I“I believe that everyone is entitled to rehabilitation,” said Bavaria’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen. Without question: blanket condemnations are no good to anyone, just ask Friedrich Merz and the cityscape.

But does Boateng’s return really suit a club that has its stadium illuminated in November to send a signal against discrimination and violence against women and girls? “FC Bayern reiterates its appeal to everyone not to turn a blind eye to the issue of domestic violence,” explained in a press release about the campaign last year. It’s just stupid that the club seems to look the other way at the crucial moment. A role model looks different.

Three days after the spectacular break-in at the Louvre, there is still no trace of the perpetrators. The security precautions in the largest museum in the world are now also being criticized. On Tuesday it became known that only around a third of all rooms are actually monitored with a camera. The focus is also on the alarm system and the question of whether it could have responded with a delay or not at all. Didier Rykner, Founder of the French online art history magazine La Tribune de l’Art, claims the alarm system on the affected window was reported defective a month ago. He was referring to internal sources Louvre, one of them “in a very high position”. It is questionable whether the defect has been remedied in the meantime.

It is now clear how much damage was caused. The value of the break-in Louvre The stolen jewelry and jewelry amounted to around 88 million euros, reported Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau. Art experts and investigators are certain of one thing: there must have been thieves who specialized in this type of theft. “These are professionals who spy on the crime scene beforehand, know where something is and meticulously calculate how quickly the break-in will take place,” says art expert Ulli Seegers in our interview.

For Markus Söder the matter is of course clear. Any criticism of the Chancellor’s statements is “part of a left-wing campaign.” The reactions from the social democrats are also predictable. It says: With his cityscape theses, Merz is feeding right-wing narratives.

One could despair once again because of this typical German debate culture. Or you wonder whether the argument could also have something productive. The starPolitical leaders Veit Medick and Jan Rosenkranz discuss three lessons from the debate. I would also be interested to know: What is your opinion on the debate, dear readers? Feel free to write it to me.

The inner bastard is as lazy as he is powerful. Our author is particularly concerned about investing in ETFs. How he managed to outsmart him.

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