Bars in Germany boycott Qatar FIFA World Cup

Oliver Pieper Cologne
19 hours ago

The mood in Germany in the run-up to a football World Cup has never been as subdued. In many pubs, the previously unimaginable is happening: There won't be any soccer matches shown during the World Cup.

For 27 years, the cult pub Lotta in Cologne has witnessed all the electrifying moments in football. When FC Köln scores a decisive goal in extra time, the whole bar almost explodes. Complete strangers hug each other drunk from victory. Kölsch beer flows in streams over the bar. The atmosphere gives you goosebumps.

With its two big screens, Lotta pulls in the punters when Germany's men's national team is playing, too. The collective primal scream after Mario Götze's goal in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina has gone unforgotten.

So it would take quite something for Lotta co-owner Peter Zimmermann, a passionate football fan and season ticket holder at his beloved "Effzeh" — FC Köln for the nonlocals — for 20 years, to make a decision that many landlords and landladies in Germany are making right now: For four weeks, the TVs at Lotta won't be showing any matches of the soccer World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on Sunday.

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