Monday, October 18, 2021 at 5:35 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 17:46

Feyenoord has been told by UEFA that a banner that has been worked on in recent weeks may not be displayed during the home game against 1. FC Union Berlin, reports FRFC1908. The canvas, with the text ‘We are Rotterdammers, we persevere’, does not fit within the guidelines of the European Football Association.

Supporters associations FSV de Feijenoorder and De Noordzijde, who jointly made the banner, explain to the fan page what message they wanted to convey. “We often look for appropriate subjects for an atmospheric campaign. This time it was the turn to put the image of Ossip Zadkine (called De Verwoeste Stad, ed.) in the spotlight, surrounded by a number of buildings of present-day Rotterdam.” The Destroyed City is incidentally an image that was made as a result of the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War.

The idea was to unroll the banner on Thursday during the Conference League match at Vak X, with the text: ‘We are Rotterdammers, we will hold on’. The canvas was approved by Feyenoord, but UEFA subsequently refused to grant permission. The football association invokes article 16.2 in the regulations, which states that such actions may not be ‘hateful, provocative, political or offensive’. The fan page shows its dissatisfaction with the decision, including by adding the text ‘UEFA = mafia’ to its post on Instagram.