For almost four years, the Chinese Fosun Group has been destroying money with GC. But he didn’t make anything blossom. The sharp criticism of the Chinese is linked to the order given to the new owners from Los Angeles.
As if there was nothing to say: Former GC President Sky Sun was almost always silent and was one of the Chinese errors.
Jean-Christophe Bott / KEYSTONE
GC reported a transfer loss for 2022, was not qualified for the European Cup, was at the bottom of the Super League in terms of ticket sales and made a loss of 14 million francs. The significant minus amounts have become a habit; This does not create a stable foundation. That’s why it’s no exaggeration when even those responsible at the club speak of a money-destroying machine.
This is the bad news from a club that has been eking out a miserable existence under Chinese management since April 2020. But the good news is connected to the fourth pillar of income – patronage. The Chinese owner of GC, the Fosun Group, always paid everything, absorbed Corona and transferred the salaries on time.
Everything resulted in publicly negotiated nightmares
This is the fundamental difference to previous donors from abroad. In Swiss clubs, the tree burned at the latest when the staff began to wait for their wages. A Frenchman or an Iranian in Geneva, a French-Polish dual citizen in Lausanne, Italians in Ticino, Russians or Turks in Wil or a Chechen in Neuchâtel – everything resulted in publicly negotiated nightmares.
When the patrons stopped pouring in the money, the media uproar was great, as was the damage to the league’s image. In the almost four-year relationship between GC and China, there have been no such scenarios. This honors the Chinese who gave GC a helping hand when no one in the Zurich establishment was willing to do so. The club’s glorious past was no longer of any use; the title of record champions sounded like a mockery.
Everything paid and everything good then? Not at all. The primary accusation against the Chinese is that they did not bring the project to Zurich soil. The choice of former GC players Bernt Haas (sports director) and Bruno Berner (coach) didn’t help either. The staff changed too often, they were too far away from Swiss football, too often absent from the country, they fantasized too much in a dream world.
The GC leadership suffered from a loss of touch with reality
The former president Sky Sun, appointed by the Chinese, said in 2021 that GC wanted to become Swiss champions in 5 years and wanted to reach the top of Europe in 10 years. He also wanted to “earn money at some point” with GC, as he told the NZZ. Without a new stadium, this is impossible, especially since audience popularity is plummeting.
The criticism of the failed Chinese project is linked to the order given to the Americans from Los Angeles. You can buy into top-level football in Switzerland inexpensively and describe such commitments as a “new world of football”, but that’s not the end of it. In addition to perseverance, it requires a sense of reality, local and present staff who are no strangers to the small Swiss market. Nothing works without traction.
That’s a premise that Los Angeles should be familiar with. No matter how much money you have, you can still find yourself so fascinated by a new world in which clubs connect, know-how is shared and players are moved back and forth.
FC Lugano serves as a role model
An appealing example is FC Lugano, which is still neglected by the public and has been making progress under an American roof since 2021 and is also receiving a new stadium. Or FC Lausanne-Sport, with which the British company Ineos has paid a lot of money since the end of 2017, but has now found its way a little better on the local track.
In short: The GC community, which tends to glorify itself, thanks the Chinese for their help in survival, but eagerly welcomes the Americans. It can’t get any worse or more distant. That is the bitter conclusion for the Chinese, who have built a fantasy world that cost far too much and achieved nothing.