Dortmund's Watzke apologises to Hoffenheim owner Hopp over fan abuse

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke looks on during Bundesliga match. Photo: Friedmann Vogel/EPA

Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke looks on during Bundesliga match. Photo: Friedmann Vogel/EPA

Published Sep 23, 2018

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BERLIN – Borussia Dortmund chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke late on Saturday apologised to Hoffenheim owner Dietmar Hopp for abuse by

Dortmund fans at their Bundesliga match.

Dortmund fans held up insulting banners and engaged in abusive chants

at the Sinsheim stadium during the 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Hopp, 78, is the co-founder of software giants SAP and was allowed to

take over the club because he has invested heavily into them for more

than 20 years.

Some die-hard Dortmund fans oppose such ownership, consider Hoffenheim

a "plastic club" and have protested in similar ways in the past. Hopp

has pressed charges against Dortmund fans who engaged in abusive

chants against him at the previous game in May which further angered

some fans and led to Saturday's protests.

"On behalf of Borussia Dortmund, I would like to offer my apologies

to Dietmar Hopp. What happened is completely unacceptable! I will

make sure to get in touch with Dietmar Hopp over the course of the

next week to offer this apology in person,'' Watzke said in a club

statement.

"Unfortunately things really seemed to get out of hand this week. We

spoke to to all parties in an attempt to calm things down, but

unfortunately we weren't successful. This kind of behaviour is in

absolutely no way representative of the values of Borussia Dortmund!"

Hopp did not want to comment on the incidents after the game.

dpa

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