The Berlin Olympic Stadium: Lars Windhorst has invested 375 million euros in Hertha BSC since 2019
Source: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Europe/Pool/dpa/archive image
At Hertha BSC there is a fire everywhere. As the team rushes toward relegation, officials are blaming each other. Now it is known that the club, in which the investor Windhorst put 375 million euros, applied for state aid.
Gemanaging director Fredi Bobic has called for more calm in the area after a turbulent week at the Bundesliga club Hertha BSC, which is threatened with relegation. “Is it really important to talk about a movie? Honestly, that has nothing to do with the game either,” said Bobic on Thursday before Hertha’s important away game at Borussia from Mönchengladbach, which was also in crisis, on Saturday (6:30 p.m. / Sky).
On Wednesday, a dispute broke out again between the Tennor Group around Hertha’s million-dollar investor Lars Windhorst and the Hertha Executive Committee after a report about plans for a documentary film that had burst. Windhorst could try a showdown with President Werner Gegenbauer at the next general meeting in order to gain more influence.
It was also announced on Thursday that the club, in which Windhorst has invested a total of 375 million euros since joining in the summer of 2019, has received corona aid from the federal government. “Contrary to all of our hopes, the pandemic is still keeping us in suspense and is having a major economic impact, especially in terms of viewer income. We have therefore applied for bridging aid III from the federal corona support program, approved it and received it,” Hertha’s CFO Ingo Schiller told the “kicker” on Thursday. The club confirmed this.
According to the report, the payment was around seven million euros. For accounting reasons, the federal funds were already booked in the second half of 2021. They appear in the financial report of Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA published by the Nuremberg-based auditing and tax consulting company Mazars. The other operating income of around 7.9 million increased significantly due to the federal payment, it says.
Crisis summit in Mönchengladbach
There are many loud noises around the club, which is difficult, said Bobic on Thursday. He calls for rest “from everyone, really from everyone”. The topic does not play a role in the team. “Many don’t read anyway, they just post,” said Bobic. “But of course you wish in times like this that there would be greater cohesion. We are working on that.”
In terms of sport, the Berliners have enough worries: Hertha has not yet won a game this year, in the second half of the season there have only been two points. After four defeats in a row, the club has slipped down to relegation rank, just one point ahead of VfB Stuttgart. “We have to score points at the weekend,” Bobic said to the team and coach Tayfun Korkut on Tuesday. “Losing is forbidden, I have nothing against that,” summarized Korkut himself on Thursday.
If he loses again, it will be tight for him. “We have something to make up for,” said Korkut, referring to the 4-1 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt last weekend.
