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Klaas Jan Huntelaar from FC Schalke 04
Photo:
TEAM2sportphoto / imago images / Team 2
It will be a few more weeks before FC Schalke 04 are also mathematically relegated from the Bundesliga.
But there is no doubt: The Knappen will play in the second division in the coming season.
Now Schalke has presented the business figures for 2020 and it becomes clear how alarming the situation is: a minus of 52.6 million euros, a drop in sales of 100 million, liabilities of 217 million.
The traditional club from Gelsenkirchen has to cut its expenses radically, because after relegation the income situation will continue to deteriorate due to significantly lower TV income.
"We only spend the money we have and not what we hope to have in the future," said CFO Christina Rühl-Hamers when presenting the group annual report.
That means: The long-standing Champions League participant is only planning a third of his player budget for the 2nd Bundesliga and is stopping the renovation of the club's premises.
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Christina Rühl-Hamers
Photo: Wolf von Dewitz / dpa
"The whole year has been influenced by Corona, income of 70 million euros has collapsed as a result of the pandemic," said Rühl-Hamers.
The financial plan for relegation: sell as many players as possible as dearly as possible, and then strive for promotion again with a »second division budget that is in the top group«.
But, as is well known, the transfer market has also collapsed, and sporting director Peter Knäbel has challenging weeks ahead.
Will Uth or Harit change clubs?
In 2020, the personnel budget was 102 million euros, around 80 percent of which was for the salaries of the professional department.
This placed Schalke, which won only one of the last 43 Bundesliga games, in the top third of the league.
Rühl-Hamers “under no circumstances” wanted to commit to a specific number for the lower house - “for reasons of competition”.
According to the DFL economic report, the personnel budget for match operations in the upper third of the second division was on average 22 million euros.
Whether Schalke can actually achieve such a radical reduction also depends on which players can be sold.
Well-paid professionals like Amine Harit, Mark Uth, Salif Sane or Suat Serdar are still under contract in the coming season.
Whether these professionals bring in high transfer fees is at least questionable.
"We will not sell our players off," said Rühl-Hamers, but also emphasized that transfer revenues do not automatically increase the planned second division budget: "It cannot be that every additional euro flows into the team." Only at the "Knappenschmiede." «, The Schalke youth department, the red pencil should not be applied.
This is where the club's hope lies: Bringing more home grown-ups into the professional department in order to improve the tense relationship with its own supporters.
The club's grounds will not be further modified
The »Berger Feld« project, the 100 million euro renovation of the club's premises, is stopped immediately.
"Corona has changed the framework conditions decisively," said the CFO.
"A mid-double-digit million amount" has so far been spent on additional training grounds, the professional performance center and the repair of the park stadium.
More is not possible, because the situation is precarious: After two years in a row with high losses, the negative equity has grown to 71 million.
The total liabilities rose due to the Corona loan (35 million euros) by 19 to 217 million euros.
The second division should not be financed by additional debt.
"We have to have balanced cash flow within one season," said Rühl-Hamers: "We are putting a lot of things to the test." In the event of an immediate promotion, which is not a matter of course in this balanced league, she has "the vision that we are in two , have been stable again for three or four years «.
But one is also prepared for "the scenario of a second year in the second division".
Then, however, more radical cuts would have to be made.
krä / sid
