Negative sales of more than 15 million euros, debt of 66 million – 1. FC Köln is in financial difficulties. It is a sport. Sky Sport explains how things should go up again in the economy.
It was a serious, serious statement that the financial manager of Cologne Phillip Türoff met last Tuesday at the general meeting of 1.FC Cologne.
“We have managed FC through Corona for another year. But it is still a case of financial restructuring.” A clear statement that shows that the club is still financially bad. The value of 148.4 million euros and a loss of 15.7 million euros after tax speaks for itself. For comparison: last year the loss was 3.9 million euros. The club’s current debt is around 66 million euros.
1. FC Köln must continue Keller’s tough course
In concrete terms, this means that Bundesliga clubs must continue the austerity measures announced by boss Christian Keller. In addition to the income of the spectators, which the club, like other clubs, has to do without during the Corona pandemic, this also includes the sale of players and contracts that are significantly reduced for newcomers.
When he took office in April, Keller – who was ripped off by Jahn Regensburg precisely for this process – revealed that there will not be many outliers in the contract for new players. Result: With Salih Özcan and Anthony Modeste, 1.FC Köln sold two of its most important players in the summer, and Modeste even earned the absolute highest income of the team (about 3.6 million per year).
Many players will go after Modeste and Özcan
More players will follow during the upcoming transfer. Players like Ellyes Skhiri or Dejan Ljubicic are the focus of numerous top clubs. If that is the case, other players will follow in their footsteps, as well, because the club’s path is clear: take young players with little or no Bundesliga experience and turn them into Bundesliga stars.
Baumgart’s strengths: Developing young players
The strength that coach Steffen Baumgart combines like no other. No matter what player Baumgart puts up, he improves. Not always directly, sometimes you need time to develop, but every actor will repay his appointment sooner or later with performance. Results in 2022: International football. 1. FC Köln plays in the Europa Conference League. A balancing act for the team, which ended in 2018 with relegation to the second Bundesliga, but made the important club millions to promote more and even accelerate the recovery of the club.
“The outstanding sports development can help FC Schneller to be a stable base if we continue along the strategic path we have taken,” Türoff recently explained to the members.
Economic integration is the most important
After difficult years and fat contracts – which were negotiated by former sporting directors such as Horst Held and Jörg Schmadtke – the Bundesliga club is on the right track. Economic integration is the most important. Responsible for this is the new trio consisting of Phillip Türoff, who was hired by Birkenstock as a financial specialist at the beginning of the season, Christian Keller and Markus Rejek, who is about to move from Arminia Bielefeld to Rhine as the third managing director in. League.
If the people involved manage to continue to do business correctly, create the stars of the Bundesliga and sell them for good money and stabilize their sport despite the painful exit, 1. FC Köln can not only recover in terms of sport, but also financially. The next year developed a constant size in the Bundesliga.
More about the author Marlon Irlbacher
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