Borussia Dortmund stop Far Right political party using posters that suggested link with the Champions League finalists

The posters used the club colours of yellow and black

(BONGARTS/GETTY IMAGES)

Borussia Dortmund have won a court case to prevent allusions to the club being used in the campaign posters of a Far Right political party.

The poster in question was used by the North-Rhine-Westphalia branch of Die Rechte (The Right) to promote the election campaign of candidate Siegfried Borchardt in the upcoming Dortmund council elections. It used the club colours of yellow and black, as well as the slogan “From the South Tribune into Parliament”. The South Tribune is the famously atmospheric terrace in Dortmund’s Signal-Iduna-Park, often nicknamed “The Yellow Wall”.

The club had initially appealed for the posters to be removed through the provincial court of Dortmund. When the request was not granted, they took the case to the Higher Regional Court, this time successfully. The judge ruled that “although BVB are not named, the controversial elements create the impression that the club have approved of the message.”

Borussia Dortmund have taken a number of measures of late to discourage any association with the Far Right. Last month, they released a leaflet to all fans in the stadium entitled “That Looks Forbidden!”, which detailed certain symbols and signs commonly used by the extreme Right, and also handed out the maximum stadium ban of four years to a fan who was caught making the Hitler salute in the stands.

Die Rechte is a political party under observation by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, a body which declares it to be less extreme than the more notorious Far Right party the NPD. Should the latter be made illegal - a measure which has recently reemerged as a possibility in Germany - it is believed that Die Rechte would garner a large proportion of its voters.