FCL President Philipp Studhalter on the Federal Council decision

For FC Luzern, games with a maximum of 50 spectators have existential consequences. President Philipp Studhalter hopes for support.

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Philipp Studhalter, President and CEO of FC Luzern, says about the upcoming ghost games:

“It’s a damn hard blow for us, even if it has become apparent. It will be a huge financial challenge. “

At the same time, however, he emphasizes that FC Luzern will of course support the measures taken by the Federal Council and that the association will do everything possible to ensure that the health care system will not become overburdened, according to experts.

On the other hand, Philipp Studhalter points out that the protection concept had been properly adhered to and that there were no infections at the FCL games. “For us it is a slap in the face that we had to give up our protection concept, which we worked out with a lot of personal effort, after just one home game.” Background: The Lucerne were only able to play a match in the Swisspor Arena on October 18th with more than 1000 spectators. There were around 3,600 fans in the stadium against FC St.Gallen on the day mentioned. The FCL was expressly praised from all sides for the strictly adhered to protection concept.

More than 40 percent from viewer income

For the FCL President, there is now a black and white situation: “On the one hand, we have to pay the players’ wages, on the other, it’s a lockdown for the spectators.” The viewer income makes up over 40 percent of the budget at FC Luzern. «We can no longer provide our season ticket holders with any services for their money. In this case, we promised our most loyal fans compensation payments before the season if they were no longer allowed to come to the stadium. ” The club is in a dilemma because, on the other hand, it does not receive any short-time work for the players, as they have fixed-term contracts. Studhalter hopes for the chance of partial compensation, as the professionals only train and play, but are not allowed to pursue the public relations work stipulated in the contract. The promised federal loans would also be a hope: “We would be happy if the conditions for the loans were finally clarified.”

Philipp Studhalter also states: “The Federal Council would like us to use football somewhere to ensure social operations.” Without income, it would be difficult, and the FCL is “part of the cultural heritage of central Switzerland, to experience football together and to integrate people”. Philipp Studhalter sees black clouds on the horizon, which will probably lead to a great low for a longer period of time. The FCL boss, who usually thinks positively, states: “Under these conditions we are countering economic and social difficulties at an accelerated pace.”

House bank with Alpstaeg is not always a savior in an emergency

If there had been economic problems at FC Luzern in the past ten years, the club could always rely on the house bank with Bernhard Alpstaeg, Samih Sawiris and Co. Now Studhalter says: “It would be naive to believe that the shareholders will keep us afloat. We have to find ways and means ourselves to save FC Luzern. “

Philipp Studhalter is responsible for the continuation of the game operations in the Super League: “We have to keep playing so that the players can do their jobs. As is well known, an important source of income is the transfer income. “