GELSENKIRCHEN (dpa-AFX) – According to media information, the housing company Vivawest is to replace the previous sponsor GAZPROM at the second division soccer team FC Schalke 04. As the “Funke Medien” reported, the talks about a partnership “could be brought to a conclusion in the coming days”. The “kicker” had previously reported on this. Vivawest did not want to comment on the speculation when asked by the German press agency dpa on Tuesday.
After years of partnership, Schalke ends the cooperation with main sponsor Gazprom as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Russian state-owned company has been the most important financier of the traditional club, which has liabilities of around 200 million euros, since 2007. Most recently, about nine million euros per season flowed from Gazprom Germania, a German subsidiary of the Russian state energy company, to the Gelsenkirchen-based company. The contract runs until 2025. After the separation announced on Monday, Schalke was confident on Monday that “they would be able to present a new partner in the near future”.
The supposedly new sponsor is based in Essen, but the main administration is on the site of the former Nordstern colliery in Gelsenkirchen-Horst. With almost 120,000 apartments, Vivawest is one of the largest real estate groups in Germany and is particularly well represented in the Ruhr area./bue/DP/eas
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