Will FCK’s facility finally get a buyer?

Article posted by Coliseum, June 30^th, 2020

Image: FC Kaiserslautern

German sports club 1. FC Kaiserslautern or FCK has a concrete offer in the form of an investor. This could also lead to buyback of the Fritz Walter Stadium in Germany.

However, the investor who is interested to buy the facility has set forth a precondition – the club can no longer have any legacy issues. In this regard, the third division club is bound by a special regulation of the German Football Association (DFB), which allows clubs to go bankrupt this year without deducting points.

FCK or FC Kaiserslautern is a sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. Apart from football, the club also runs several other sports. Fritz-Walter-Stadium serves as the residence of FC Kaiserslautern. It was one of the stadia used in the 2006 FIFA World Cup™.

Media reports stated recently that no deal was struck between FCK and the City as regards the new lease for the Fritz Walter Stadium. The City has laid down a proviso – the payment of the full rent of EUR 3.2 million in the event of the third division club going bankrupt. The FCK is in no mood to pay more than 625,000 euros per year in the future. This is the bone of contention which is why the deal – which was to apply from July 1 – has not been struck yet.

Supervisory Board member Professor Jörg E. Wilhelm told mediapersons as regards the strategic future planning of the FCK. According to him, the third division club has a good offer from a German investor who is also interested in buying the Fritz Walter Stadium.

Once the lease ends, the purchase right for the stadium should be between 25 and 35 million euros. Till 2003, FCK’s home ground was owned by them until it was sold along with the youth performance center to Fritz Walter Stadium Kaiserslautern GmbH for around EUR 57.9 million. The City is their sole shareholder.

Frankfurt am Main-headquartered German Football Association (DFB) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of FIFA and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of the men’s and women’s national teams.

Recently, the FCK applied to the district court for plan insolvency in self-administration, since the Palatinate is sitting on a mountain of debt of around EUR 24 million and needs around EUR 15 million to issue the license for the coming season.

The FCK may finally see light at the end of the tunnel in the form of the German investor. However, the club is tied down by too many conditions.

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