As the club announced on Saturday morning, the lettering of the housing company Vivawest adorns the jersey of the Royal Blues “from now on”. The parties involved have agreed not to disclose further details of the partnership.
Duration of partnership not yet clear
“As a company with a tradition of building company housing for miners and with our administrative headquarters in Gelsenkirchen, we see it as our duty to support Schalke. The terrible events in Ukraine require all of us to stand together and show our stance.”, said Vivawest management Uwe Eichner. He spoke of one “temporary partnership”. How long the cooperation should last remained open for the time being. According to media reports, it should initially apply for a year and a half.
The Vivawest deal is too “With a view to the medium-term financial planning and our soon planned corporate bond, this is a positive signal to our fans and partners”said Schalke’s CEO Bernd Schröder.
S04 CFO spreads confidence
Christina Rühl-Hamers tried to dispel the fans’ concerns about an even greater imbalance in the financially troubled club. “Our financial ability to act was given at all times. Now it is important to expand this further and to take advantage of the opportunities that arise. We are confident that we will be able to do this thanks to the partnership with Vivawest.”, commented the Schalke CFO. However, the revenues are likely to be well below those of the Gazprom era.
The “Royal Blues” prematurely ended their long-standing partnership with Gazprom after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The contract originally ran until 2025. In the 2nd league, nine million euros were to flow from the Russian gas supplier every year, with a rise the sum would have risen to 15 million euros per season.