Dylan Bettencourt
Martin Hinteregger was forced to retire at age 29 following criticism over organising a tournament held by a far-right politician in Germany.
The Eintracht Frankfurt defender decided to terminate his contract following the controversy.
The Austrian had a year left on his contract with the Bundesliga side, which accepted his request to terminate the deal.
Hinteregger’s announcement came just a month after he and his side celebrated winning the Uefa Europa League.
Shortly after their victory, the centre back helped to organise a youth tournament in Austria with his former business partner, Heinrich Sickl.
Sickl has connections to a far-right political party and used to be a member of an Austrian neo-nazi organisation in the 1990s.
Hinteregger said he had no knowledge of the Sickl family history.
“I have no knowledge of past or future activities on the part of the Sickl family – I just want to make a football tournament happen and nothing more,” he said.
“Any business relationship with the Sickl family will be terminated with immediate effect due to the current knowledge, and the event ‘Hinti Cup’ will be examined alternatively to clarify a further course of action.”
In his farewell statement, Hinteregger said he had been considering retirement since last autumn and was thinking about retiring at the end of the season as he was in a bad situation on the pitch.
“My performances were shaky. The wins didn’t feel as good anymore and every defeat hurt twice as much,” he wrote in the statement.
In the statement, Hinteregger condemned any right-wing ideologies.
“To make it clear once again: I condemn right-wing, intolerant and inhuman ideas in the strongest possible terms. Those who know me know that,” he said.
Image source: @iNews
