Photo: Screenshot from Bayern Munich Football Club's Facebook account

Bayern Munich confirmed it was a mistake to attach the image of an officially unrecognized "Taiwan flag" in its latest Chinese Lunar New Year greetings post on Friday, stating in a reply to the Global Times that the club has realized it was a "very serious and unacceptable mistake" and had removed the post.

Bayern Munich Football Club posted a series of messages on Facebook on Friday to greet several Asian countries to mark the Lunar New Year in multiple languages, accompanied by their national flags. However, one of them was accompanied by an officially unrecognized thus highly inappropriate "Taiwan flag" with the words "Happy New Year" written in simplified Chinese, media reported. The tweet was later deleted.

"Bayern's Facebook account is operated by a third-party company. While the poster for the Lunar New Year post is confirmed by Bayern, the copywriting for posts is handled by a third party. The third party made a mistake, leading to the wrong flag being used to send New Year greetings to Chinese mainland fans," Bayern Munich said in a reply to the Global Times on Saturday.

However, this is not the first time that Bayern Munich football club has committed a mistake that questioned China's territorial sovereignty.

On December 29, 2019, the club paired its soccer stars with flags from all over the world in a Facebook post, to thank its global fans. The post sparked a backlash among Chinese fans online as it matched the Chinese national flag with the officially unrecognized "Taiwan flag." The post was deleted soon after leading to criticism for compromising China's national sovereign.

"Bayern Munich FC has repeatedly made similar mistakes and offended the Chinese people. It is increasingly hard for people to believe that this is a simple 'mistake'," claimed a Chinese netizen on Sina Weibo. 

"China does not welcome football clubs that repeatedly challenge China's principles and core values," another comment suggested.