Football star Hinteregger has broken off his business relations with a far-right FPÖ politician. This was the 29-year-old defender of the Frankfurt Bundesliga club Eintracht’s reaction to a media report.
Professional footballer Martin Hinteregger of Eintracht Frankfurt has broken off a business relationship with a former FPÖ councillor and distanced himself from right-wing ideas. “I have friends all over the world through my time in professional football and also privately, and clearly reject accusations that I have a right-wing orientation and continue to stand up against any kind of discrimination,” Hinteregger wrote on social media on Thursday.
Rooms rented to far-right Identitarian movement
This was the 29-year-old defender of the Frankfurt Bundesliga team’s reaction to a report by journalist Michael Bonvalot. In his blog “Standpunkt”, Hinteregger’s business relationship with the Austrian local politician Heinrich Sickl of the right-wing FPÖ was the subject of discussion. The son of a former social affairs minister had made headlines in 2018 for renting out premises in Graz to the far-right Identitarian movement.
“It is unbelievable that an unknown person can claim such things about me,” Hinteregger said in a statement. He said he had no knowledge “of past or future activities” on the part of the Sickl family and only wanted a football tournament to take place and nothing more.
“Any business relationship with the Sickl family will be terminated with immediate effect due to the current state of knowledge and the ‘Hinti Cup’ event will be examined as an alternative in order to clarify a further course of action,” the Austrian international further wrote.
FPÖ politician speaks of incitement against his person
According to a current extract from the Austrian “Register of Beneficial Owners”, which are compiled by the Ministry of Finance, Hinteregger and Heinrich Sickl each have a one-third share in “Hinti Event GmbH”. Another third is held by a restaurateur. The register extract is available to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Through “Hinti Event GmbH”, the head of defence of the Frankfurt Bundesliga team is organising a fan event with a music festival from 16 to 19 June in his home village of Sirnitz in Upper Carinthia.
Until last year, Sickl sat for the right-wing FPÖ in the Graz city council. He continues to be active in an FPÖ sub-organisation, as chairman of the Freedom Academic Association of Styria.
Sickl announced on Thursday that he was withdrawing from the organisation of the Hinti Cup. The accusations in the media were a scandal in terms of democratic politics and concerned him. Sickl spoke of incitement against his person, which he rejects in the strongest terms as a person and as a politically active citizen.