Schalke 04 is arming itself with corona clauses and a guarantee

Schalke 04 incorporates corona clauses into its contracts with an automatic salary waiver in the event of a pandemic. “We implement that in the same way. This affects not only players of the professional team, but also the U 23 or staff members, ”said sports director Jochen Schneider of the sports information service. This applies to new contracts and contract extensions.

The highly indebted traditional club, like most other clubs, had negotiated a voluntary waiver of wages with the players for the past season. The monthly relief in the millions should help to secure liquidity in the Corona mandatory break. A week ago, Schneider had already announced that due to the threatened shortfall in earnings in the new season by no or fewer viewers, a “compromise on a further waiver of wages” would be achieved.

Guarantee is an issue in the Finance Committee

Meanwhile, it has now been officially confirmed that Schalke has applied to the state government for a guarantee of EUR 31.5 million for a loan totaling EUR 35 million. This emerges from a confidential submission by the government to the Finance Committee of the state parliament, which is available to the German Press Agency. The application has therefore not yet been decided.

As the Ministry of Finance explains in the template, a football club in the first or second Bundesliga “is basically a commercial company within the meaning of the guarantee guidelines” and is therefore entitled to apply. However, no further applications were currently pending. The state government had so far not commented on reports on Schalke’s application and referred to the confidentiality of such transactions.

Uniform line when spectators return

Sports director Schneider, meanwhile, advocates a uniform return of spectators to all stadiums. “For many people, it would simply not be understandable why, for example, spectators are allowed at one Bundesliga location and not at another,” said Schneider. “That is why I hope that a uniform line can be implemented.”

To prohibit fans from cheering, singing and shouting, as requested by the Saxon Minister of Health Petra Köpping (SPD), the Schalke manager considers “completely unrealistic. These emotions are part of football, because we have no opera audience. Perhaps mouth-nose protection is part of the solution, so that fans can support their team loudly and the risk of infection is kept as low as possible. We have now got used to wearing a mask, be it on the train or when shopping. ”He longs“ for the day when fans can finally return to the stadiums ”.

According to Schneider, the clubs are working “in close coordination with the DFL and politics on appropriate concepts to enable our fans to return to the stadiums. And of course it will be decisive how the infection process develops in Germany as a whole and what the authorities can allow accordingly. ”RB Leipzig was the first Bundesliga club to receive the green light from the health authority for its concept with up to 20,000 spectators. However, fan representatives and scientists had expressed skepticism.