Switzerland: close to bankruptcy, Servette FC blame the operating model of their stadium

Servette FC (Brack.ch Challenge League, the Swiss second division) "is not in a position to pay wages or its suppliers from the end of March 2015," announced the Geneva club on its website on 31/03/2015.

"We are working very hard on a number of initiatives, in both the public and private sectors, to find solutions that will make Servette FC financially stable over the long term. We have now had a number of positive discussions with all parties, including on the Stade de Genève (capacity of 30,084, all seated, opened in 2003)," added the club, which celebrated its 125^th anniversary on 20/03/2015.

The club requires an additional 400,000 Swiss francs (€383,000) to meet its obligations in March 2015 and 4m Swiss francs (€3.8m) to finish the 2014-15 season. Hugh Quennec, the Canadian owner of Servette FC (as well as the legally independent Genève-Servette Hockey Club), has called on the State Council of Geneva and the Foundation of the Stade de Genève, the owner of the stadium, to pay back the 6m Swiss francs invested by the club in stadium renovations since he bought the club in 2012…