The SpVgg Greuther Fürth has come through the difficult 2020/21 pandemic season with a black eye economically thanks to Bundesliga promotion. The GmbH & Co. KGAA ended the business year with a minus of 460,000 euros At the same time, turnover actually rose slightly from 22.8 million euros from 2019/20 to 23.8 million
“I find it difficult to sell this as a great success, minus is minus,” said managing director Holger Schwiewagner at the balance sheet press conference on Thursday afternoon. With a wink he added: “If we hadn’t had to pay a promotion bonus, we might have been in the black.” This, of course, he was happy to pay, because promotion pays off in the medium and long term, regardless of the sporting performance in the Bundesliga: “Due to the extraordinary sporting success, but also due to the remarkably great support of our fans and partners, we will nevertheless continue to develop financially and structurally and thus come through the pandemic relatively unscathed. “
Additional revenue thanks to local players
Although the season was almost entirely without spectators, Fürth’s loss was significantly reduced from €3.96 million in 2019/20 to €460,000. In 2019/20, falling TV revenues, a lack of transfer income and the beginnings of the pandemic contributed to the poor result. Promotion in 2020/21 was achieved despite a cost reduction of ten per cent and a reduced, comparatively small budget of 9.4 million euros. The cloverleaf generated almost 80 per cent of its income from TV revenue (13.45 million euros) and sponsorship (5.4 million euros). The two million euros in additional income from TV marketing is outstanding, because Fürth was at the top of the 36 professional clubs in the use of young players.
For the current season, Schwiewagner expects a seven-figure profit despite the imponderables of the pandemic, turnover will double thanks to the Bundesliga stay, as will the budget. The equity ratio is 26 per cent, but is expected to rise again significantly.