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AfD agree cease-and-desist declaration subject to penalty

Borussia Dortmund's legal action against election advertising by the political party the AfD which referenced the BVB club colours has been successful. On 4 August, the Dortmund district association of the party agreed to a cease-and-desist declaration.

In this agreement, the AfD district association in Dortmund undertakes to refrain from using the BVB's club colours for the purpose of political campaigning, subject to a contractual penalty to be determined for each case of non-compliance.

On an election campaign sticker designed for the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia on 14 September, the AfD had used the slogan "Black & Yellow for football – blue on Sunday".

After thorough examination, Borussia Dortmund decided to take legal action against this form of election campaigning and to assert claims for injunctive relief against the AfD district association in Dortmund. 

In Borussia Dortmund's view, this was an unlawful attempt to establish a link between BVB and a political opinion and political voting behaviour by suggesting that a BVB football fan would or must also vote for the AfD. BVB did not want to allow such an impression to be created under any circumstances. It would have contradicted the values of Borussia Dortmund.

The legal opinion of BVB has now prevailed.

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