The Mainz supporters club has called for the club to drop the planned friendly against Newcastle, which is due to take place on 18th July.
They are unhappy with the fact that Premier League side Newcastle are majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund, amid concerns at human rights in the Middle East country.
Mainz have remained silent on the game, but club coach Svensson has now spoken out and defended the planned friendly clash.
“On the one hand, I can understand the arguments”, Svensson was quoted as saying by German daily Bild.
“Whenever it comes to football, things become very inflated and become huge issues.”
However, Svensson noted that Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund holds shares in Disney.
And Svensson added: “How far are we going? Will we also then ban Disney films with our children?”
Mainz were in friendly action on Saturday when they thrashed Wormatia Worms 4-0.
The German side’s first game of the season is a cup clash against Erzegebirge Aue and Svensson will want the Newcastle friendly to help hone his players’ skills.
