Two days after the start of the season
CEO leaves Schalke 04 surprisingly
7/30/2023, 5:49 p.m
FC Schalke 04 and CEO Bernd Schröder parted ways two days after the start of the new Bundesliga 2 season. Schröder was only about a year and a half before the relegated team.
CEO Bernd Schröder is leaving the second division soccer club FC Schalke 04. According to a statement from the club two days after the start of the season, this step was taken “by mutual agreement”. The contract will therefore be terminated on July 31. However, Schröder will remain active in an advisory capacity until the end of the year “to ensure an orderly handover”. Schalke lost 5-3 at Hamburger SV in the second division game on Friday.
“In the past few weeks there has been an intensive exchange between the supervisory board and Bernd Schröder about further cooperation,” said the chairman of the supervisory board, Axel Hefer. Schröder’s tasks within the board will be taken over by Christina Rühl-Hamers (board member for finance, human resources and law) and Peter Knäbel (board member for sport).
Recently, among other things, the sluggish search for a new main sponsor was blamed on the boss of the board, only one day before the start of the season the club was able to present an agreement with a long-term partner who will advertise on the shirt chest in the future – and apparently the club’s financial hopes for the most valuable advertising space not fulfilled. Schröder’s contract originally ran until July 31, 2024.
Schröder moved to Schalke on January 1, 2022, where he was responsible for strategy, sales, marketing, IT/digital and communication. Before that, he worked for two years as Director of Marketing & Sales at Bayer Leverkusen. “I will always have very good memories of my time at Schalke. It was very intense, highly emotional and challenging – just like Schalke is,” he said: “We managed to lead the club with a steady hand, strategically new and to initiate important measures that will be important for the medium to long-term development of the club.”