Supporters of the team where Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp cut his managerial teeth have demanded that their club abandon plans to play Newcastle United this pre-season.
German Bundesliga side Mainz have issued a strong statement calling on their club to scrap plans to face the Magpies in Austria on Monday, July 18, due to the ownership of the Premier League side by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
In a lengthy statement Mainz fans stated their belief that the fixture should not take place with the PIF-owned Magpies, claiming that the owners of Newcastle are using 'sports washing' and their stewardship of the club to launder the reputation of Saudi Arabia in the face of accusations of continued human rights abuses including the oppression of the LGBTQ community and women's rights.
READ MORE: Raheem Sterling may have shown Liverpool the truth about Mohamed Salah's contract
READ MORE: Liverpool ready to make pre-season 'adjustments' to take 'scary' Luis Diaz to new levels
The statement from Mainz supporters read: “ Newcastle United was acquired by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund PIF, which is chaired by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in late 2021. The motive for this was probably less the enthusiasm for football or the identification with the club Newcastle United than the so-called “sport washing” – the attempt to polish the image of Saudi Arabia by entering international football.
"We recall that Saudi Arabia is not only an absolute monarchy in which democratic participation of its citizens has no place, but a country in which basic human rights are systematically disregarded. Suppression of freedom of expression and religion, persecution of homosexuals, oppression of women, use of caning and the death penalty are part of the laws there.
"So Newcastle United is not just a football club, but a vehicle for asserting the interests of a regime that tramples on human rights and whose policies are diametrically opposed to the values and mission statement of Mainz 05.
"At a time when authoritarian states, large corporations or billionaires are taking over international football in order to assert their interests, it is no longer possible to separate football and politics.
"With the decision to play a friendly against Newcastle United, Mainz 05 is sending a signal, and not a good one at that: This game sends out the signal that the values of the mission statement are not binding when it comes to choosing opponents for friendly or friendlies go. With a game against Newcastle United, Mainz also actively offers the Saudi regime a stage and thus indirectly recognizes it politically.
"We call on Mainz 05: Take a stand! Read your mission statement! Cancel the game against Newcastle United!"
Liverpool boss Klopp has a deep affinity with Mainz, having spent 18 years there as a player and then manager.
As a player Klopp made 325 appearances for the Karnevalsverein, ending his playing days in 2001 before being appointed manager that same year following the dismissal of Eckhard Krautzun.
Klopp would begin to carve out his reputation with Mainz that would eventually lead him to Borussia Dortmund in 2008 and then Liverpool in 2015. At Mainz he secured them promotion to the Bundesliga in 2003/2004.
Mainz fans continue to revere Klopp some 14 years on from his departure, with Klopp continuing to have the link with the club having taken a Liverpool side to face his old team twice during his Anfield reign.
Klopp told the ECHO in 2016, ahead of a pre-season clash with his old club in Mainz: "After the town where I was born, Mainz is my home town.
"I still have a lot of friends there. I love the club. It’s a wonderful club. And I love the idea that I can introduce Liverpool to Mainz and Mainz to Liverpool."
READ NEXT
Former Liverpool youngster shot and arrested in training dreams of return to boyhood club
Pep Guardiola might be quietly taking major Man City risk that Liverpool will hope backfires
Sadio Mane forced Liverpool to make transfer decision like never before under Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp signed £43.7m replacement for Liverpool star who scored 'spectacular' goal
