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The FC Lucerne started the season badly from a sporting perspective. The situation with Covid-19 is anything but easy. What positive things are happening with you right now?
The season is still young and especially after this transfer period, in which a change in the team has taken place, the team certainly needs some more time to find itself. Therefore we are looking forward to the upcoming games and hopefully many points. And although the Corona situation is indeed not easy, we want to move forward with a positive signal and offer emotional support to the people of the region. This is our claim.
How big is FC Lucerne, what is your annual turnover, how many employees do you have?
FC Luzern has a turnover of around 20 million Swiss Francs and employs 164 people including all junior coaches. With these key figures, we are certainly one of the medium-sized clubs in Switzerland.
How regional is FCL as a club? Are there fans all over Switzerland or even abroad? Where do the sponsors come from?
Basically, FC Lucerne is a very strongly established club in the region – accordingly, the majority of our fan base comes from the entire Central Switzerland region. The same can be said about our sponsors and partners. With a few exceptions, we are proud to include companies from Central Switzerland in particular, and above all, in the FCL family.
What percentage of the turnover is Matchday-Revenue?
Matchday-related revenues are the most important source of income for FC Lucerne. Just the ticket sales alone (single tickets and ABO CARD cumulated) account for about 40% of the income.
How do you deal with the fact that this revenue is lost through ghost games? Can you somehow compensate for this?
This is the big challenge we are facing. Since the ticketing revenue is a big part of the total revenue, we have to find ways to compensate for these losses. This will certainly not be possible in its entirety, but we are positive that together with our fans and partners we will again find good solutions in the interest of the club.
The FCL is a public limited company. Why and when did you decide to do so and what role does this form of company play in your daily work?
After various clubs in Switzerland had economic problems, the Swiss Football League decided in 2006 that all clubs in the two highest leagues in Switzerland had to be constituted as public limited companies. Due to these structures, the clubs have certainly become more and more professional in the past years and are now well positioned in all areas. Thus, the daily work at FC Lucerne today is certainly more similar to an SME than a club based on voluntary work.
Can anyone theoretically buy shares? How many shareholders are there?
In principle, the shares of FCL Holding AG are held by various major shareholders and are therefore only available for sale if they are sold. However, it is always possible to buy shares of FC Lucerne-Innerschweiz AG, where all professional sports are based.
What are the next steps in the club’s development in the non-sports sector? Which projects are in the pipeline?
First and foremost, we are currently in a consolidation phase due to COVID-19. It is important to lead the club economically well into the future with the current framework conditions and accordingly various cost-intensive projects have been postponed into the future. Nevertheless, we want to take a further step forward, especially in the area of digitalization, which is certainly a necessary and important step in view of the current crisis.
In conclusion, quite honestly, can FC Luzern also see Covid-19 as an opportunity? As an opportunity to push new things faster, to speed up digitization, to create new offers for fans and also to emancipate itself a little bit from sporting success? Or is that simply not possible in this situation?
As mentioned above, digitization is certainly important and necessary, especially in the current situation. Accordingly, we also want to take a step forward in this area. However, we have to face the fact that it is currently not possible for a club like FC Lucerne to make big leaps. Our goal must be to lead the club through this crisis in a consolidated manner so that it is in the best possible position to return to normality. But we also believe that the pandemic can be seen as an opportunity in various areas. Through many discussions with our partners, who are facing similar challenges, a great basis for future partnerships can be laid.
