Schalke: License without conditions – and yet there is a risk of deduction of points

The FC Schalke 04 received the license for both the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga without conditions. The DFL and the club announced this on Thursday afternoon. “The DFL confirms that the club is fully financed in both leagues for the coming season,” says the Royal Blues.

The report was made by Schalke’s CFO Christina Rühl-Hamers satisfied. “We have completed our short-term tasks, and we have done so very successfully. That is why the result – which we expected – satisfies us and shows that we have a stable foundation from which we can now take the next steps,” she said.

But despite this good news, Schalke is threatened with a point deduction – and that has to do with the negative equity. The 2022 consolidated financial statements show that this amount is currently around EUR 109.8 million.

Depending on which league they belong to, Schalke must either improve the amount (Bundesliga – by ten percent) or it must not deteriorate (Bundesliga 2). This is no longer part of the license requirements, the statutes of the DFL define the requirements and measures precisely. If Schalke do not comply, there is a risk of a point deduction for the 2024/2025 season.

The effects will be a constant companion to us over the next few years in the form of negative equity. We are all the more concerned with solutions, one key will be to make profits year after year.

Christina Rühl-Hamers.

Rühl-Hamers takes it easy. “A look at equity makes it clear to everyone how hard the impact was, triggered by the corona pandemic and exacerbated by the relegation. The effects will be a constant companion for us in the next few years in the form of negative equity. That’s why we’re dealing with it all the more intensively with solutions, a key will be to turn a profit year after year, which is what we forecast for the 2023 financial year,” she explained.