Schalke’s CEO Bernd Schröder has responded to the many statement by Hans-Joachim Watzke to deal with the club’s main sponsor Gazprom.
“Bernd Schröder talked today with Aki Watzke – it was a good conversation. To the content we say nothing for now, because I ask for patience,” said the football second division on request from the “German Press Agency”.
Watzke, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German Football League and Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund, had brought into play financial assistance for the Schalke, should separate the club from its controversial Russian main sponsor Gazprom.
“First of all, I’m very glad that the Schalker has shown there attitude. I hope that they continue continues,” Watzke said in the ZDF “Hans-Joachim Watzkes Studio”. “And if it also requires the solidarity of the other clubs in Germany to make them reasonably well out of this situation, then we have to discuss how we can handle it.”
FC Schalke 04 with jerseys without imprint
The Treaty of Revier Club with Gazprom has a term until 2025. According to reports he is in the 2nd league with eight to ten million euros and in the Bundesliga with up to 20 million euros.
The Schalke had launched the day before 1: 1 in Karlsruhe with jerseys without the imprint of their sponsor. Also in the fan shop no fan articles with Gazprom logo are available more.
To free the way to a new sponsor, FC Schalke would have to terminate the contract with Gazprom. According to the lawyers who specialized on Hans-Joachim Watzkes law, this termination would be “withstand a judicial review”.
“In a sponsorship agreement, each parties can terminate the agreement without compliance with a notice period if there is an important reason. The current dramatic development is likely to justify such an extraordinary right of termination for Schalke 04, especially because the Russian Federation as the Gazprom Group as Biggest shareholder controls, “said Cherkeh.