Cologne's mosque shirt: Club welcome member's departure
August 12, 2020
Bundesliga club Cologne have publicly welcomed a fan's decision to terminate their membership over the club's new away kit. The jerseys feature the city skyline, including a mosque, which the fan "can't identify with."
Image: Imago Images/U. Kraft
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Normally, losing a fan would be a cause for concern for any football club, but Bundesliga side Cologne have made an attempt to put principles before profit.
On Tuesday, the German oufit publicly waved goodbye to a fan who objected to a particular element of their new away kits on Twitter.
Alongside Cologne Cathedral, the river Rhine and other city landmarks, Cologne's new jersey also has a depiction of a mosque woven into the fabric.
The fan claimed the decision to represent the building on the shirt effectively made Cologne a "religious organization" and that they could not "identify with Muslims and mosques" before suggesting they would soon be playing in pink kits. The club took his suggestion at face value.
Situated in the west of Germany, Cologne has a significant Muslim community and the club have previously said that adding the mosque to the shirt design was meant "as a sign of inclusivity in the city."
But the Cologne Central Mosque, officially opened in 2018 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has proved controversial, with the Turkish government's religious affairs authority in Germany, the DITIB, contributing to its construction costs.
The club's Managing Director, Alexander Wehrle, expanded on the theme in German tabloid Bild.
"The mosque is symbolic of the large Turkish community in Cologne, where there are many diehard FC fans. And it has become an unmistakable part of the Cologne skyline" he said. "This applies regardless of how one stands politically in relation to the operator of the mosque [the DITIB]."
However, Seyran Ates, founder of a liberal mosque in Berlin, was among those pointing out that the latter part of Wehrle's explanation made the incorrect assumption that Turkish people in Germany were "one homogenous mass."
Cologne's central mosque: A troubled symbol of unity
The city of Cologne boasts Germany's largest mosque, an impressive compound made of glass and concrete. It was intended as a symbol of integration, but ended up marred by controversy.
Image: DW/M. Odabasi
Inspired by a flower bud
The building was designed with glass walls and a staircase accessible from the street, symbolizing openness to people of all religions. It features two 55-meter (60-yard) minarets and a dome of glass and concrete which appears to open like a flower bud.
Image: picture-alliance/R. Hackenberg
Ehrenfeld's mix of cultures
The mosque is located in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district, a formerly a working-class quarter. Ehrenfeld suffered a rise in unemployment and poverty when factories closed in the 1970s. Some time later, however, low rent prices lured in artists, galleries and theaters, ultimately gentrifying the area. Today, 35 percent of locals there have an immigrant background.
Image: DW/M. Hussein
Impressive plans
The construction was funded by hundreds of Muslim associations, but also bank loans and donations from the Turkish government's religious affairs authority in Germany, DITIB. Cologne city council approved the plans in 2008, despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the conservative Christian Democrats, voting against it.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Architect drops out after row with Turkish association
Architect Paul Böhm, who specializes in building churches, won the contract in 2005. He saw the building as an act of integration. He later fell out with the new leadership of DITIB and stopped working on the project in 2011.
Image: AP
Doors opened in 2017
The mosque first opened for prayer during Ramadan in 2017, but was only officially opened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Germany in September 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Room for 1,200 worshippers
Inside the mosque, there's a prayer area which takes up both the ground and the upper floor, with the two sections connected by a well in the center of the building's glass front. The compound houses an Islamic library. There are also shops and sports facilities intended to foster interactions among people of different faiths.
Image: Picture alliance/dpa/M. Becker
New skyline
Some residents were shocked by the sheer size of the construction when the plans were first presented, especially the height of the minarets, and feared a change in the skyline of their "Christian city." Then-Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, admitted to having "an uneasy feeling" about the project.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/H.Kaiser
Right-wing protesters oppose the mosque
Right-wing politicians picked up on the sentiment and launched a heated debate about the integration of Muslims in Germany. Author Ralph Giordano said the mosque would be "an expression of the creeping Islamization" in the country.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Imams or spies?
In 2017, German authorities launched an investigation into the activities of DITIB imams, who are schooled in Turkey and paid by the Turkish state, as well as other people working in the Cologne complex. Mosque employees were suspected of spying against Turks living in Germany on behalf of the Turkish goverment.
