The HSV players after losing their chance of promotion in the second leg against Hertha BSC (0:2 after 1:0 in the first leg).
Source: dpa/Christian Charisius
HSV is preparing for another mission to be able to return to the Bundesliga. The goal is formulated boldly. It is already first class in one area: the number of employees. In the future, the club will not be competitive in the long term.
Dhe sports director demoted, tensions at management level, trouble about the stadium renovation, unrest in the office because of austerity plans – Hamburger SV has offered its fans a lot despite the summer football break. “Certainly we didn’t have the good, euphoric mood in the last few weeks that we experienced after the sporting high in the final phase of the past season,” CFO Thomas Wüstefeld admitted in an interview on the HSV website.
After all, before the start this Saturday in preparation for the fifth year in the second division, there was agreement in the club on the sporting goal: And that means promotion. The fact that those responsible, such as sports director Jonas Boldt and his colleague Wüstefeld, are so boldly striving to return to the Bundesliga, for which July 16th or 17th, the first hurdle with the game at Eintracht Braunschweig, has good reasons.
Coach Tim Walter’s team caused euphoria in the final phase with five wins in a row and the jump to third place. That they are in the relegation on the Bundesliga-16. Hertha BSC failed, although it caused disappointment. But the enthusiasm of the fans remained unbroken.
Only top Bundesliga clubs have bigger apparatus than HSV
For the first time there is continuity again at HSV. Walter is going into a second season as the first coach since the club was relegated to the second division. The contract with the 46-year-old coach is to be extended before the start on July 16 or 17 at Eintracht Braunschweig.
And Hamburger SV is already first class in one area: the number of employees. HSV has around 500 employees (including mini-jobs). In comparison: Only the top clubs in Germany have a similarly high number or more employees. Record champion FC Bayern comes to around 1000, Euro League winner Eintracht Frankfurt to 530 (full-time, temporary staff). But other first division clubs like TSG Hoffenheim only have 290 – or fewer. The problem: The Hamburgers, who are going into their fifth second division season, cannot afford such a large apparatus in the long term. HSV finance boss Wüstefeld is now getting the savings hammer out.
Since the beginning of the year, the 53-year-old investor has temporarily and without pay taken over the board position at HSV after Frank Wettstein left early. Since then he has turned every stone at the traditional club – and came to the conclusion: HSV will not be competitive in the future in the long term.
Explosive: The expenses that do not relate to the licensed player area amount to up to 14 million euros per financial year. The costs for media work alone amount to around 2.4 million euros per season. That is more than nine percent of the total budget for the professional budget for the coming season (about 26 million euros). A comparison: League competitor SC Paderborn only spends two million euros in salary costs for its entire workforce (50 employees).
According to the current status, up to 25 percent of the jobs at HSV are to be cut in the coming years – that would be around 125 employees. This is not well received internally, even if the association wants to make the measures as socially acceptable as possible, for example, vacant positions should not be filled. From Wüstefeld’s point of view, a cut is inevitable, because the people of Hamburg have lived beyond their means for years. This is also proven by this example: The club pays a six-figure sum for external consultants such as the former national hockey coach Bernhard Peters and his agency “BP TeamCoaching”. His job: He is to coach young trainers in the areas of leadership skills, personal development and training concepts.
Expenditures that HSV cannot afford. As well as the renovation of the Volksparkstadion for the EM 2024. According to a calculation by the club, the sum is between 25 and 35 million euros. The city of Hamburg, on the other hand, assumes a smaller, single-digit million amount for, among other things, an emergency power generator (in the event of supply problems with the floodlights), twelve new turnstiles and a cooled control and data room.
HSV doesn’t have much money for new players either. That’s why no professional is unsaleable. Especially in the case of U21 national player Josha Vagnoman (21), the club is hoping for a high income – at least six million euros. Because the defensive player sees his future in the 1st league. Midfielder Sonny Kittel (29) also wants to leave.
Hamburg club manager Wüstefeld. The medical entrepreneur holds 5.11 percent of the shares in HSV Fußball AG
Quelle: pa / xim.gs / Philipp Szyza
In addition, Wüstefeld and his team are working on other models to provide the club with fresh capital. Under discussion: an early contract extension with SportFive until 2033. The current contract expires in 2025. In return, the commissions for the marketer should drop from 20 to ten percent, so that HSV has more money after signing contracts with sponsors.
And: Wüstefeld hopes that financiers Kühne will make millions more. The entrepreneur, whose fortune is estimated at over 35 billion US dollars according to Forbes, has been an HSV investor since 2010. After relegation in 2018, he retired. Since Wüstefeld joined HSV, Kühne has been able to get enthusiastic about his favorite club again. At the end of March he secured the naming rights of the Volksparkstadion and will pay three million euros for it until 2023.
During the summer break, there are talks with all HSV investors. Economic solutions should be found so that HSV 2023 is also first-class in terms of sport.
