The administrative court makes short work of it!
On Wednesday it was not just about 1.7 million euros for Fortuna Düsseldorf, but also many millions in Corona emergency aid that had long since been paid out for other clubs. Accordingly, they were probably happy about what happened in court.
Fortuna faces a million-dollar victory in the Corona coal process!
At 10:35 a.m., judge Petra Chittka opened the oral hearing after Fortuna filed a lawsuit against the Düsseldorf district government, which is demanding back 1.7 million euros in Corona emergency aid. And after a short time she made it clear that she was on the plaintiff’s side. Chittka adjourned the case, but gave a very clear assessment that in her opinion “the withdrawal order should be set aside”.
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The judge had previously contacted the other district governments in North Rhine-Westphalia, where football clubs (for example Schalke and Paderborn) were relegated from the Bundesliga during the pandemic, and asked how they dealt with the situation. The result was clear: despite the check, there was no doubt anywhere that these clubs also had a right to Corona aid. A huge slap for the Düsseldorf district government!
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Their lawyer complained against the judge – but she stuck to her stance. How serious the situation is for other clubs became clear when the lawyer for the district government made it clear: “The Equal Treatment Act applies. That’s why every case will have to be checked to see whether it was wrongfully waved through.” However, this would only happen if Fortuna were to lose the process.
The representatives of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia not only want Fortuna to get the money, but also other clubs that have lost money not only because of Corona – because the district government insists that the emergency aid would only be available if the loss in sales was solely due to Corona. Which is totally unrealistic in professional football with ever-changing TV and transfer income.
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Because Judge Chittka also obviously considers these allegations to be absurd, Fortuna has little doubt about the million-dollar victory in the Corona coal trial. Finance boss Arnd Hovemann (50): “The judge made it very clear how she sees the facts. Namely, that there are no reasons for the withdrawal notice and the alleged administrative practice does not exist, which has been seen in the examples of the other clubs. That’s why we see ourselves as fully vindicated.”
Both parties will now comment in writing, after which there will be another hearing before the arbitration tribunal (with three judges instead of one female judge as on Wednesday) – but the direction is clear. Hovemann: “Of course the verdict is something different than the judge’s initial assessment, but it would be very surprising if something completely different came out of it.”
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Then all clubs should finally breathe a sigh of relief – and Fortuna will be happy about a lot of extra money. A provision was created for the 1.7 million reclaimed, which could then be released and the money spent. In addition, if successful, the district government might even have to pay out 200,000 euros more because the judge also questioned the partial approval decision (Fortuna had applied for 1.9 million).
In addition, Düsseldorf had also submitted applications for Corona emergency aid III plus and IV at the time, which the district government, as it announced in response to a BILD request, will decide on after the verdict. There are around 1.4 million more. Hovemann: “This is extremely important for us because large sums of money are involved.”
