Two years after ending their relationship with Qatar Airways amid fan protests, Bayern Munich has signed a new partnership with Emirates, the airline owned and operated by the United Arab Emirates.

The agreement, announced on Wednesday, is similar to the one the football club has with Visit Rwanda, the tourist board of the African country, and will encompass pitchside advertising as well as what Bayern calls "joint activations on both companies' social and digital channels." Unlike in their deal with Rwanda, the German champions make no mention of any football academy in the UAE.

Emirates, which reportedly missed out on Bayern's shirt sponsorship, is a familiar presence in football. The airline has deals of various prominence in place with Arsenal, Real Madrid and Lyon, among others, and sponsor the English FA Cup, the oldest national cup competition in football. They also have deals in place in many other sports and were previously a shirt sponsor for Hamburg in the Bundesliga.

'I feel ashamed for Bayern'

Michael Ott, a German lawyer who led fan protests against the Qatar Airways sponsorship, is disappointed that history is repeating itself.

"It is deceptive but, in the end, probably makes sense given that my impression was always that the Qatar deal wasn't ended thanks to a shift in the mindset of Bayern officials but because Qatar didn't want to continue anymore.

"So now they're doing the exact same thing once again. With the difference that the situation of migrant workers in UAE is probably even worse than in Qatar," he told DW. "It's impossible to justify an advertisement contract for a company belonging to such a state. I feel ashamed for Bayern."

A 2024 report from Amnesty International said the country, made up of seven emirates including Dubai, was "criminalizing the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly." It also noted its "strong economic relations with Israel amid the armed conflict in Gaza" and the use of "prolonged solitary confinement against prisoners in the mass trial of Emirati dissidents as a means of coercion and punishment."

Michael Diederich, Bayern's deputy chairman, talked up the financial advantages of the deal, thought to be worth €5 million ($5.8 million) annually to the club, which recently spent €70 million on signing Colombian forward Luis Diaz from Liverpool.

"FC Bayern is very pleased to have gained a strong and shining partner in Emirates, which has been a committed supporter of club football in Europe for decades," he said. "FC Bayern also needs financial planning security to achieve its sporting goals, so Emirates is an ideal fit for our club's family of partners."

That family of partners also includes long-term deals with German firms Adidas, Allianz and Audi, who each own a stake in the club. These comprise the club's so-called "main partners," alongside shirt sponsor Deutsche Telekom. Emirates now sit in the "platinum" tier just beneath with betting site Betano, crypto platform Bitpanda and Visit Rwanda, among others.

Edited by: Chuck Penfold