SKN St. Pölten in turbulence: FC32 jumps surprisingly!

SKN St. Pölten in turbulence: FC32 jumps surprisingly!

St. Pölten, Österreich - The SKN St. Pölten is in a financial crisis. Like vienna.at , the association is urgently looking for new sources of money after the investor FC32 has withdrawn from the partnership after less than one year. The American holding company had taken over 49 percent of the shares at Profi-GmbH in St. Pölten in April 2024.

Now FC32 pulls the emergency brake due to "inconsistencies" within the group. Paul Francis, the Boss of FC32, also resigned as Vice President. Managing Director Matthias Gebauer expressed his surprise on the sudden withdrawal of the investor.

uncertain future for SKN St. Pölten

The withdrawal of FC32 raises questions about the licensing of the association for the coming season. It is unclear what effects this will have on the game. St. Pölten announces that the game operations are "for the time being" secured, but according to the events of the past few days, there is more than a question mark behind the club's continued existence. At the beginning of March, documents were already submitted to the league that are now obsolete due to the withdrawal.

The first instance decision of the league is expected until April 14th. The SKN has already answered questions from the league and submitted new documents. But the withdrawal is not unexpected. The association had recently suffered a setback from the early exit from VfL Wolfsburg as a cooperation partner.

The context of investments in football

The withdrawal of FC32 is a faster and risky world of football investments. According to Deutschlandfunk Fans of clubs like Hertha BSC Comfort about the approach of investors. The head of worldwide investment banking at JP Morgan, Harry Hampson, remains optimistic about the growth outlook of the sports industry. In addition to traditional banks, he also sees aspiring risk capital providers who want to invest in football.

A demographic change and the growing women's sport could act as growth drivers. At the same time, Christoph Breuer, head of the Institute for Sports Economics, warns of over investments in football and the associated financial losses. Again and again the topic is taken up that sustainable forms of investment in which fans invest directly in their club are more successful.

in England there are already successful models such as the supporters Trusts, in which fans are of great responsibility for the decisions of their club. However, the current developments around the SKN St. Pölten impressively show how dangerous the dependence on individual investors can be.