The shock could turn into a jackpot…
The district government in Düsseldorf is demanding that Fortuna Düsseldorf repay 1.7 million euros in Corona aid – because the club was relegated in 2020 and the drop in sales was therefore not only a result of the pandemic (BILD reported). But the revelation 10 days ago has set a lot in motion.
New million dollar hope for Fortuna!
At the end of 2023, the club received the repayment demand and filed a lawsuit against it. In addition to the claim that the Corona costs were not as high as necessary (at least a 30 percent drop in sales), what was surprising was that no other relegated team in Germany has to pay back its aid. And that is now causing surprise even far away from the parties in dispute.
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BILD learned that the demand is also completely incomprehensible for city politicians (which has nothing to do with the NRW district government, which is also in Düsseldorf). In addition, the reporting ten days ago also informed the employees in the district government who had previously had no knowledge of it – and they are now asking themselves: Why does Fortuna have to pay and no other relegated team? Even SC Paderborn, which had to go into the 2nd division with Düsseldorf, did not receive a repayment demand – and the same district government is responsible for them.
There have been a lot of discussions in recent days, and Fortuna is increasingly getting the impression that it has a good chance of a good outcome. However, this is not just about the 1.7 million repayment, but also about 1.4 million more Corona aid that the club applied for at the time but for which no decision was ever made. The district government has already confirmed to BILD that a decision will be made on this after the outcome of the current 1.7 million dispute.
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Those: Nonstopnews17.08.2024
What makes the whole issue so bizarre for Fortuna these days is that Düsseldorf has to play Dynamo Dresden in the cup – which was relegated to the 3rd division in 2020 and received a total of 7.7 million in Corona aid, but does not have to pay anything back. The club only released the last 3 million in the spring, which had been set aside in case a repayment claim was made.
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Why only Fortuna received it remains a big mystery…
