Football Clemens Tönnies
“My Schalke heart is bleeding”
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Clemens Tönnies and his wife Margit on Tuesday at the premiere of the Sky documentary about coach Christoph Daum in Cologne
Source: dpa/Rolf Vennenbernd
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In 2020, Clemens Tönnies resigned from his position as club boss at Schalke 04. The club is currently doing worse in terms of sport than ever before in this millennium. Now the billionaire comments on the situation at his heart club.
Long-time club boss Clemens Tönnies has ruled out returning to a position at the deeply fallen second division soccer team FC Schalke 04. “No. My time is over,” said the meat entrepreneur on the sidelines of the premiere of the Sky documentary about trainer Christoph Daum in Cologne: “I had the best time. We built Schalke together. But everything has its time.”
Of course, the fall to the relegation relegation place in the 2nd league takes him with it. “My Schalke heart is bleeding,” said Tönnies. But he “offered to help several times and sometimes I didn’t get an answer at all.” He didn’t want to say anything more, “because I don’t want to add fuel to the fire for those responsible. You have to get Schalke out of this crisis now.”
Tönnies, now 67 years old and whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $1.2 billion, was chairman of the Royal Blues’ supervisory board from 2001 to 2020. Then he resigned after coming under pressure after accusations of racism and massive corona outbreaks in his meat plants.
And maybe returning is not financially necessary. Although the club, in 16th place in the second division, is in a dramatically worse position in terms of sport than ever before in the entire millennium, financially it has just presented surprisingly positive figures. Although these should still be treated with caution.
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In the first half of 2023, Schalke generated an increase in sales from January to June of 55.9 million euros to 81.7 million euros, as shown in the annual report published on Tuesday. This results in a half-year surplus of 9.3 million euros. In the first half of the year, Schalke was still a member of the Bundesliga, and the TV revenue there in particular is many times higher than it is now in a league lower.
Schalke’s debts decreased slightly
“Our work over the past few years has borne fruit and made it possible to pursue three central goals in parallel: to set up a budget for the team that is competitive in relation to the sporting goals, to consistently continue to reduce liabilities and ultimately to achieve a positive result,” said CFO Christina Rühl-Hamers.
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Schalke generated significantly higher revenues in the areas of match operations, events and media exploitation rights. Total liabilities decreased at least slightly from 180.1 million euros at the end of 2022 to 165.1 million euros and financial liabilities from 139.8 million euros to 126.5 million euros. Despite the relegation, the club expects a profit in the single-digit million range for the entire year 2023.
Rühl-Hamers emphasized that these half-year figures reflect the importance of being part of the Bundesliga. “That’s exactly why we went into the mission to stay in the league with a licensed player budget of around 40 million euros.” However, the relegation was a “noticeable setback with lasting financial effects”. Sporting success therefore remains the central lever for the club’s financial projects. Therefore, with a view to sponsorship, it is important that “we present a better sporting image as quickly as possible,” demanded the CFO.
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