Statement from the board – S04 reject claims made by Osnabrück

The claim that FC Schalke 04 have turned down fan-friendly solutions is completely baseless. The following is a summary of the timeline of events: VfL Osnabrück have been aware of the structural defects in the roof of the stadium – the original cause of the issue – for the past few weeks. The Schalke board only learned of a possible closure of the Stadion an der Bremer Brücke on Monday this week (29/4) and subsequently suggested a number of solutions that would allow for the game to be played in front of a crowd. VfL Osnabrück themselves failed to propose any useful or concrete solutions.

VfL Osnabrück could have begun to discuss concerns about security and organisational matters – especially details about ticketing – with FC St. Pauli as early as Wednesday (1/5), as this was when they, alongside the DFL and Schalke 04, received the Hamburg-based club’s proposal to play the encounter at the Millerntor. To the Royal Blues’ best knowledge, such discussions did not occur until Friday morning, despite both parties being well aware that, from this point in time onwards, FC St. Pauli would be unable to organise a game played in front of fans. Michael Welling, CFO of VfL Osnabrück, first made suggestions regarding alternative venues on Thursday evening (2/5), after the DFL had already come to a decision.

Schalke 04’s board did not explicitly rule out any possibilities during that phone call and asked for time to consider and check over potential fan-friendly proposals. After being unable to reach Michael Welling over the phone a short while later, Matthias Tillmann sent Welling a text message that evening stating unequivocally that another change of venue was out of the question in order to avoid further confusion. At this point, the club was still under the assumption that a match in front of spectators would be possible at the Millerntor. VfL Osnabrück subsequently published a statement in which they claimed, among other things, that S04 would be open to the possibility of the fixture taking place at another ground, which simply is not the case.

The important thing to note is that if VfL Osnabrück preferred a different venue, discussions with those stadium operators and relevant officials could have been conducted at the beginning of the week. FC Schalke 04 are unable to speculate as to why such a course of action was not followed by the club. Osnabrück only began to propose alternatives after the DFL had unambiguously expressed in writing to both parties that the “game will be held (…) at the Millerntor-Stadion in Hamburg” and that their “decision is (…) final.” The DFL confirmed this to be the case to the club over the phone on Friday morning.

VfL Osnabrück have not provided an option that would have allowed for the game to take place in front of a crowd at any point. As a result, Schalke have refused to unconditionally agree to another change of location without knowledge of where and under what conditions the match would be played. VfL Osnabrück’s management tried to strong-arm S04’s board by sending emails to the DFL and the club claiming that fan-friendly solutions were being blocked. At the same time, VfL – wittingly or unwittingly – were passing up the opportunity to have the game played in front of fans at the Millerntor. A written request to the game’s organisers, VfL Osnabrück, to provide a concrete solution by 12:00 CEST on Friday for the match to be played with a crowd was not followed by a substantive response. Instead, Osnabrück published another statement on their website in an attempt to shift the blame for the situation onto the Royal Blues in a move that has caused incredible frustration at the club.

Given that VfL Osnabrück had claimed to be interested in fan-friendly solutions, Schalke 04 did everything in its power on Friday morning in order to hold the game with spectators present at the VELTINS-Arena. Both the Gelsenkirchen police and fire brigade indicated that a game could take place at a full stadium on Tuesday, and the club wishes to thank all the relevant authorities for their work in making this possible. Osnabrück would still have been considered the home side. This proposal was turned down by the DFL on Friday afternoon in the interest of fair and equal competition.

The game being played behind closed doors does not benefit FC Schalke 04 in any way. Furthermore, S04 does not see how, as the other party are suggesting, the Royal Blues can be held accountable for the circumstances. The club remains committed to providing support wherever possible to all parties involved in order for the game to take place in front of spectators at 18:30 CEST on Tuesday.