Borussia Dortmund Ban Half-and-Half Scarves for Red Bull Salzburg Game to 'Combat Commercialisation'

Borussia Dortmund have banned half-and-half scarves from their Europa League tie against Red Bull Salzburg in a bid to combat the commercialisation of football.

German rivals RB Leipzig represent everything that Dortmund's values are against, and there is no doubt that the move is a sly dig at the Red Bull brand.

According to FourFourTwo, the official club stance is that Dortmund don't want their logo on any official club merchandise for the match, effectively banning the sale of official half-and-half scarves by the club.

Although street vendors will most likely find a way around it, the Red Bull brand will not profit out of Dortmund's reputation this way.

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Borussia Dortmund's marketing director Carsten Cramer said: "We don't want any scarves where a promotional logo can be seen with ours."

This is because all Red Bull clubs have the energy drink's logo rather than a traditional club crest, basically making it a form of advertising.

Animosity between Dortmund and Leipzig has formed largely due to the ideology of the little man taking on the big corporate giant and fans have clashed in previous Bundesliga fixtures among anti-commercialisation protests.

Dortmund travel to RB Leipzig in this evening's German league fixture but not many fans are expected to fill the away end as a form of protest - here's the preview for what's sure to be a fantastic encounter.