Cristian Fiél, 44, cares only moderately about the past. Be it the night long ago or the night before. Thursday, Hertha BSC’s media room on the Berlin Olympic site, coach Fiél looks at the journalists sitting in front of him on chairs that are arranged as they were in the days of the pandemic. A reporter wants to know what he said to his players after the 2-1 cup win against 1. FC Heidenheim on Wednesday; In the team circle that was formed on the lawn of the Olympic Stadium after reaching the round of 16, you saw so many smiling faces. “I don’t know,” answers Fiél: “Maybe I took off my cap for a moment and they saw that I only have 14 hairs left.”
Smiling faces? In Berlin, the capital of the Blaffkes, as they are called on the Spree? After an early round cup game for Hertha in the Olympic Stadium, which still led to sagging shoulders because Hertha reliably sank their dream of the final in their own living room? Kiek dia dat ma!
And (psssssst!), the best is yet to come: Hertha not only plays football, but really good football. The first half against Heidenheim was not only the best game of the season, but also the best quality performance in years. The election of the new president at the general meeting on November 17th is proceeding surprisingly quietly; A challenger named Stephan Timoshin, hyped by the tabloids as a “sneaker millionaire,” may have just taken himself out of the running: He wrote on a flyer that he wanted to become president of “Hertha BSC Berlin,” a composite term known among Herthaners as No-go applies. But this is even more striking: Hertha is making ends meet better financially than was expected a year ago.
Not that Hertha is out of the woods. Not by a long shot. The parent company Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. KGaA – the spun-off professional department of the second division club – continues to face risks that are difficult to understand: the uncertain future of the investor 777 Partners, which is itself economically on the brink; and the repayment of the Nordic Bond bond worth 40 million euros, which is due in around a year. But: The promotion to the 2025/26 season, which was recently described as having “no alternative”, is no longer as urgent as it was announced a year ago.
This is proven by the report from the auditors of Forvis Mazars for the 2023/24 financial year, which is identical to the 2023/24 season. Hertha finished with a loss of 33.3 million euros. What is problematic beyond the sheer fact is that 23 million euros of it are not covered by equity capital. “Appropriate measures must be taken to counteract this,” demand the auditors.
On the other hand: Hertha’s loss was significantly higher a year ago at 99.14 million euros. Liquidity has also improved; As of June 30, 2024, at 27.5 million euros, it was slightly more than twice as large as a year earlier. The liabilities of the KGaA amount to 56.7 million euros, in the summer of 2023 they were still 103 million. That is also progress.
Of the liabilities, 40 million euros relate to the Nordic Bond, which Hertha has to pay back to its subscribers in almost exactly one year – and definitely doesn’t have it at the moment. Hertha is “working on the best possible refinancing,” according to the auditors’ report. Specifically, there were “promising discussions with five potential financing partners” to raise the 40 million for the repayment and reduce the interest burden. Hertha currently has to pay 10.5 percent interest on the capital of the bond subscribers; Bank loans would currently be significantly cheaper – if you can get them.
The sporting relegation to the second league caused sales to fall from 117.6 to 95.7 million, which is of course primarily due to the significantly lower TV income in league two. At the same time, Hertha management was able to drastically reduce personnel costs – from almost 98 to 45.8 million euros. The biggest chunk of this is the players’ salaries.
Under coach Fiél, a football philosophy is established that awakens the need for self-confidence – and satisfies it with success
As far as 777 Partners is concerned, Hertha is breathing a sigh of relief. There are no hopes for a speedy recovery for the economically hard-hit investor. Hertha only saw 75 million of the 100 million euros announced when 777 joined. But: You consider yourself lucky that these 75 million were paid at all: Hertha was able to save itself and strengthen its financial foundation. There would certainly be no objection to a payout of the remaining 25 million euros – especially since it is linked to contractual conditions that have now been at least partially fulfilled. The 25 million were intended to offset losses that “are not covered by equity”. However, as can be seen from the auditor’s report, Hertha assumes that this money will no longer flow. “Receivables amounting to 4.9 million euros, which were recorded for this purpose after the first six months of the financial year, were written off in full at the end of the balance sheet for reasons of commercial prudence.”
Ultimately, this should mean that Hertha will have to rely on generating funds at the end of the season, as the modern German says: selling the biggest hopefuls. For example? The midfielder Ibrahima Maza, 18, who recently extended his contract with Hertha by one year. That was also a gesture of gratitude that others sometimes miss. If Maza leaves, Hertha will receive a transfer fee. In the case of Bence Dardai, the son of the original Hertha player Pal Dardai, the club came away empty-handed because Dardai Jr. was able to go to Wolfsburg free of charge by foregoing a new contract. In addition to Maza, there is another offensive midfield gem: Michaël Cuisance, 25. What’s more: Cuisance is playing these days as if he wanted to become Hertha’s allegory incarnate. Because he is experiencing a renaissance that would not have been thought possible one, two or three years ago.
Cuisance was hyped early on, for good reasons. In 2017, Manchester City and Pep Guardiola lured; Because he preferred a job close to his native Alsace, he went to Borussia Mönchengladbach, after which he wandered around Europe. Cuisance went to FC Bayern, was sold to Olympique Marseille and from there to FC Venice, was awarded to Sampdoria Genoa and ultimately to last year’s second division relegated VfL Osnabrück. So now: Berlin. He became a father and has since appeared grounded and hard-working – and happy enough to celebrate art. In the 2-1 win against Heidenheim he scored the 2-0, including a stepover and a hip wobble. “What can I say?” he asked. “Super goal!”
But what really fulfilled him after the game was that Hertha had impressed in what he called a “reference game” against a top Bundesliga team. This is also due to the work with Fiél, which is now blossoming. “We understood well what we have to do, should do and can do,” explained Cuisance. “The fun increases from game to game.” This is also what Maza, the Hertha Academy’s greatest talent, says, who only decided to join the Algerian national team because the DFB had Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala blocking positions in his positions. He also had “extremely much fun” playing with teammates who “always want to have the ball and have a lot of quality,” said Maza.
In fact, it seems that Hertha is just settling in under Fiél – so much so that even Florian Niederlechner is getting infected. Phenotypically, he is a penalty area striker with the agility of a construction crane; against Heidenheim he suddenly started a beer coaster solo in the penalty area. Successful, mind you.
All of this, at least it seems, is no coincidence. Under predecessor Pal Dardai, the Hertha staff had to work laboriously (and only moderately successfully) against the ball and, when in doubt, had also been publicly humiliated. Now, under Fiél, a philosophy is being established that is based on ball possession, which both awakens the need for self-confidence – and satisfies it through success.
Hertha has now clinched three wins in a row, including the cup triumph against Heidenheim, and is in sixth place in the table before Saturday’s game against 1. FC Köln (8.30 p.m., Sky). This is the best placement since relegation in 2023. The promotion places are within striking distance, and injured players with great potential are sitting in the stands: the former Leipzig player Diego Demme – and above all Fabian Reese, unquestionably the best second division player last season. Not that anything is set in stone. But the temptation to paraphrase a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck is great: Hertha seems to be the strongest club in the world. Because year after year he tries to destroy himself and still doesn’t succeed.
