Lausanne (AFP)

The Swiss Federal Council decided on Wednesday to release aid of CHF 350 million (EUR 332 million) for professional football and ice hockey clubs and to support international sports federations based in Switzerland, in order to overcome the coronavirus crisis.

This aid will be distributed in the form of repayable loans. A first tranche of CHF 100 million for football clubs, currently largely deprived of income, will be available from June 1. Hockey clubs will be able to access a CHF 75 million envelope.

A second tranche of 175 M CHF will be available in 2021 if the clubs still need it.

The Confederation will also help amateur sport with CHF 50 million this year and CHF 100 million for 2021. These measures have yet to be adopted by Parliament.

In a press release, the Swiss Football League (SFL) "welcomes this financial aid from the state" which "will protect the clubs against the threat of insolvency".

Switzerland has authorized the resumption since Monday of training in the two football championships of D1 and D2 but very few clubs have actually resumed training.

The Federal Council, which had mentioned a possible resumption of matches on June 8, must make a final decision on May 27. The clubs will decide two days later, at a general meeting of the SFL, on a resumption of the championship which would then be scheduled for June 20 and 21.

But several clubs, like FC Sion, are opposed to it because, they explain, the obligation to play behind closed doors and the end of the partial unemployment measures would worsen their financial difficulties.

There are also plans to make repayable loans to some 60 international sports federations based in Switzerland.

Some federations "are threatened with insolvency, for example due to the cancellation of major national and international sporting events," said the Federal Council.

Fifa, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and UEFA will not have access to it because "they are organizations with high financial capacity", said the Federal Council.

- bank loans -

Concretely, the IOC must take care of half of the subsidies, while the cantons concerned as well as the Confederation must take care, together, the other half. Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the federations already had access to bank loans, guaranteed by the cantons.

In a statement, the IOC said "fully committed to providing this assistance program to international federations in cooperation with the Swiss authorities".

The IOC is already providing substantial assistance to international federations. These grants, which had reached a total of 540 (well 540) million dollars (498 M EUR) for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, are distributed among the 28 summer Olympic federations according to their audience and their importance.

They range from USD 7 million for the smallest (modern pentathlon, rugby, etc.) to around USD 40 million for the largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics).

© 2020 AFP