2nd Bundesliga: Football: Hertha BSC – a club in a state of war

Calmness off the pitch is usually a good sign and exactly what football clubs want. A lot of things are different at Hertha BSC. Peace in Charlottenburg – that sounds like one of Grandfather’s stories. The club has been in a state of war for years. The hope for a ceasefire between the club, fans and donors only lasted 18 months and ended tragically with the death of President Kay Bernstein. The ghosts that his predecessor Werner Gegenbauer had called are once again whirling wildly across Schenckendorffplatz. Hertha is still heavily in debt. Many examples show that this sport can still be practiced professionally. But because the Berliners have sold themselves to investors, they are no longer able to act themselves.

Advancement is a must

Powerlessness and financial hardship determine the sporting goals. Because there is no state to be made in the second league, things are supposed to go up again this season after a year in the lower house. The climb is a must, that has also been heard. Cristian Fiél was entrusted with this task in the summer. The coach and his team didn’t get off to a bad start, after four games the Berliners are in the top third of the table with seven points. Fiél made the last game the “measurement bar”. In the 4-3 win at Lauterer’s Betzenberg, he saw many of his “ideas implemented by the team.”

1. FC Kaiserslautern will not be a benchmark for first-class second division football this season either. Fortuna Düsseldorf rather. The league leaders are coming to Berlin this Sunday. However, Hertha’s coach was accompanied by uneasy feelings at the Olympic Stadium for his third home game. Because Fiél was quickly led into the Charlottenburg vicious circle. “My decision would have been different!” This is how he commented on the surprising departures of Haris Tabakovic and Marc Oliver Kempf. Shortly before the transfer window closed at the end of August, the club sold its most accurate striker and the defense chief for a total of 5.5 million euros. Hertha BSC needed the money – because the club’s investor, 777 Partners, is itself in big trouble.

Co-determination despite disempowerment

The problems of 777 Partners had been known for a long time. Nevertheless, the exclusively return-oriented private equity company was allowed to continue to have a say. After all, it owns 78.8 percent of Hertha’s limited partnership on shares (KGaA). And so the club’s history, so rich in irony, was continued with the signing of Fiél. The investor has been a declared opponent of Pál Dárdai since he started joining in March 2023. In the summer the time came to fulfill the change request. Hertha’s most successful coach of the last 15 years was once again shown the door, Fiél entered. So far, none of Dardai’s successors have made Hertha better, and the new coach’s previous career doesn’t necessarily speak for that.

Josh Wander and Steven Pasko are co-founders of 777 Partners. However, they hardly have anything to say there anymore, both have been stripped of their power and bankruptcy and insolvency experts have been controlling the company for five months. At Hertha BSC, Wander and Pasko still sit on the five-member supervisory board of the professional department, which was spun off as a KGaA. A message from Belgium can give the blue and white fan base hope. Standard Liège reported at the beginning of September: “777 Partners will no longer have a seat on the board, which means the end of 777 Partners’ control of the club.” In addition to football, the company’s business model is also failing in a number of other areas, for example the Australian airline Bonza had to recently filed for bankruptcy. It’s usually others who bear the suffering.

Shell player at Hertha

The old lady once again carelessly let fraudsters into the house. Like the previous investor Lars Windhorst, who received an arrest warrant in June, Hertha’s current backer is also having trouble with the legal system. In the USA, the Justice Department is investigating violations of the money laundering law. The bad tricks on the financial market are well known: For example, the London financial house Leadenhall Capital sued 777 Partners in New York – because the security provided for a loan of 600 million euros was partly made up or was already “pledged to another party or did not even belong to 777 Partners.” it was in the justification, in which one could also read about “shell players”.

How can you trust that such people mean well for you? Hertha has to. The club is hoping for an agreed payment of 25 million euros from the investor. Probably in vain, 777 Partners has to sell the shares. To whom? The fact that the repayment of a 40 million bond, which the club had extended for two years at a significantly higher interest rate after the Bundesliga relegation in the summer of 2023 and the subsequent fight for the second division license for two years at a significantly higher interest rate, is due in one year does not bode well. Anyone who is urgently looking for money in football will definitely not find peace.