Schalke 04 finally separates from Gazprom
FC Schalke 04 ends cooperation with Gazprom
Second division club FC Schalke 04 will prematurely end their cooperation with Russian sponsor Gazprom as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The board of directors decided this with the approval of the supervisory board, the club announced.
FC Schalke 04 has announced that it will end its long-standing main sponsor Gazprom in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Schalke’s online shop is massively overloaded.
FSecond division soccer team FC Schalke 04 will prematurely end its cooperation with Russian sponsor Gazprom as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The board of directors decided this with the approval of the supervisory board, the club announced on Monday.
The statement reads: “The board of directors of FC Schalke 04 has decided, with the approval of the supervisory board, to prematurely end the partnership between S04 and Gazprom. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board are in talks with representatives of the current main sponsor, further information will be announced in due course.”
It also means that the club’s full financial capacity to act remains unaffected by this decision: “The club’s management is confident that it will be able to present a new partner in the near future.”
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New jersey: online shop overloaded
Since 2007, Gazprom has been the main sponsor of the traditional club, which played in the second division game in Karlsruhe (1-1) on Saturday without the Russian state company’s logo. Instead, only the club name was emblazoned on the shirts.
The demand for the special jerseys is so great that the club’s online shop was overloaded on Monday. “We ask you for a little patience”, the online shop is reaching its limits, the club tweeted. The jerseys in Schalke’s founding colors of red and yellow have been on sale in limited numbers since Monday.
The separation from Gazprom also has personnel consequences: The businessman Matthias Warnig, who was sanctioned by the USA, resigned his mandate as Gazprom representative on the Schalke supervisory board at the end of last week. Warnig is the CEO of Nord Stream 2 AG, a Gazprom subsidiary. The energy giant was brought on board by former Schalke supervisory board chairman and meat producer Clemens Tönnies.
DFB interim president Hans-Joachim Watzke recently said on ZDF: “This is dirty money now. You have to say very clearly, in every direction, that can no longer exist, we can no longer accept that.” Watzke had announced the “solidarity of the other clubs in Germany” if Schalke got into financial difficulties if they separated from Gazprom .
