The Manchester Munich Memorial Foundation (MMMF) has said it was “deeply saddened” after items remembering victims of the 1958 air crash were stolen from a memorial in Germany.

German newspaper Hallo München said pieces were taken from a glass display case at Manchesterplatz in Munich on Monday.

Munich Police told local reporters the case had been smashed with a stone. They believed it to have happened between 08:00 and 13:00 local time.

The memorial marks the site of the plane crash which killed 23 people, including eight Manchester United players, as the club returned from a European Cup tie in Belgrade in what was then Yugoslavia.

The plane, which had stopped to refuel in Munich, crashed while trying to take off on 6 February 1958.

A memorial stone was installed in 2004, while the glass display case was added in 2020 and officially inaugurated in 2023.

The BBC has contacted Munich Police and Manchester United for comment.

The MMMF said Manchester United had offered to pay for the memorial to be repaired, but the foundation had agreed to cover the costs itself.

Its chair, Ifty Ahmed, said: “Those responsible may have damaged a display case and stolen treasured items, but they cannot steal our memories, diminish our friendship or destroy the legacy of those we remember.”

He said the memorial was particularly important to the families of those who had perished in the tragedy, as well as Manchester United supporters around the world.

Ahmed thanked Red Docs Munich, a Bayern Munich supporters’ group which helps care for the memorial, for acting quickly to repair the damage.

The foundation said the broken glass was replaced the same day.

Mark Salzmann, chairman of Red Docs Munich, told BBC News his mother discovered the damage while driving past.

He said she stopped after noticing something was wrong and found the glass had been smashed.

Salzmann said a glass sculpture originally presented to Munich’s former mayor, Dieter Reiter, was among the stolen objects, along with several medals.

His group collects tributes left at the memorial by supporters from around the world and places some of them in the display case.

He said that while the items were unique and could not easily be replaced, his group was considering trying to source replacements with the foundation.

Salzmann said the messages of support he had received showed the importance of the memorial and the friendship which “will never go away” between the cities of Manchester and Munich.

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