FC Schaffhausen is threatened with the end: problems with the stadium

FC Schaffhausen is threatened with the end

When a dream turns into a nightmare

The new stadium should secure the future of the football club. Now it’s dragging him financially into the abyss.

Published today at 11:30am

Shqiprim Berisha (center), CEO and sole board member of FC Schaffhausen, is no closer to his task of selling the club.

Photo: Claudio Thoma (Freshfocus)

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Shortly:

The Schaffhausen football club is threatened with financial ruin and bankruptcy.
The modern stadium eats up a large part of the budget.
The club’s debts amount to 10 to 12 million francs.
There is no political support for professional operations in sight.

What do we know about Schaffhausen? In front of the city there is the Rhine Falls, there is the Munot, the cadets, who are involved in handball, and then there is the football club that is languishing in the Challenge League and has once again attracted more attention these days – albeit out for the wrong reason: he is threatened with bankruptcy.

There was a time in Schaffhausen when coaches and players who later achieved a certain level of prominence gathered here at the same time. Their names were Rolf Fringer, Joachim Löw and Roberto Di Matteo, he as the son of the city. FC made it to the cup final twice, losing to GC both times, in 1988 and 1994. And there was Aniello Fontana, a real estate agent with a great sense of mission.

Fontana presided over the football club for 27 years and gave millions to ensure survival in a financially barren environment. And he had a dream: that of the new stadium. The width had long since come to the Lotterbude, something modern was needed. And that’s why Fontana fought against all odds. He finally found a location in an industrial area in Herblingen. The construction and the use of the shell cost 60 million francs, 33 million of which went to the stadium itself. Fontana was beaming at the opening at the beginning of 2017. He was already seriously ill at the time.

Last Wednesday, a good 4,500 spectators came to the modern Schaffhausen Arena for the cup duel against YB (0-1) – the average in the league is otherwise only 1,200.

Photo: Claudio Thoma (Freshfocus)

Two years later, Fontana died. What he left behind has become a nightmare. The stadium may have everything a stadium should offer today, including boxes, VIP and conference rooms. But nobody really longs for what footballers do in lifeless surroundings. Murat Yakin’s years as a coach (and financier) have not changed this. Fontana ruined himself, his family and the club with the stadium.

On average, around 1,200 spectators have been lost in the FCS Arena for years. Hundreds of thousands of francs are missing every year to cover the budget. The old club management around main shareholder Roland Klein is in dire straits Questionable backer named Berformance a sales service provider for digital future technologies. This had already happened to other clubs in Switzerland, Servette, Xamax or Wil. But in Schaffhausen they now have to clutch at straws.

No financier, no buyer, no help from politicians

Jimmy Berisha, who once came into the limelight because he played a role in the sale of GC to China, is now the sole member of the board of directors and CEO in Schaffhausen, this Berisha denied contacts to Saudi Arabia. But he is no closer to completing his task of selling the club on behalf of Klein (and his alleged backers). There is no financier and certainly no buyer in the region. Politicians are making no move to help the professional business with tax money.

The club’s debts amount to 10 or 12 million francs. Berisha does not provide any further details. It is astonishing how the club was able to push such a burden and still receive the license for this season. The stadium is like a log in the leg because it eats up around a third of the budget, 1 or even 1.2 million, depending on which number Berisha is currently quoting.

On Wednesday, the Schaffhausen team lost 0-1 in the cup against YB in front of 4,539 spectators. Now they play in Carouge and against Nyon. Then it’s the winter break – and nobody knows how long the club will exist in this form.

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Thomas Schifferle has been a sports journalist since 1979. He has been working in the sports department at Tamedia since 1995.More info

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