FC Schalke 04: accused of racism, Clemens Tönnies temporarily leaves the supervisory board

Clemens Tönnies, chairman of the Supervisory Board of FC Schalke 04 (Bundesliga), has decided to leave his post for a period of three months, after which he will return to his post, announced the Gelsenkirchen club on 07/08/2019.

Clemens Tönnies, in the context of a discussion on the subject of environment in Paderborn (GER) on 01/08/2019, made comments to the effect of: "Rather than raising taxes to protect the environment, more power plants should be built in Africa, so Africans stop cutting down trees and making children when it's dark."

"On Tuesday evening (06/08/2019), FC Schalke 04’s honorary council discussed the case of Tönnies. After several hours, the council concluded that the allegations of racism made against S04’s supervisory board chief, Clemens Tönnies, were unsubstantiated. However, allegations of having violated club policy and the statuary non-discrimination principles are justified. Clemens Tönnies has breached this duty, a duty particularly important in his role as chief of the supervisory board. He acknowledged this violation at Tuesday’s meeting and once…