The Eintracht Frankfurt football team is not quite ready for the coming season.

Sports director Markus Krösche will tie further reinforcements to the Hessians in consultation with coach Oliver Glasner in the coming weeks.

The composition of the Frankfurt board team for the coming years, on the other hand, was completed this week.

George Daniels

Editor in the sports department

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The previous authorized signatory Philipp Reschke will move up to the board on July 1 and will be responsible for the areas of law, fan affairs, security and match day organization, merchandising, spectator service and human resources.

"Homegrown by Eintracht Frankfurt"

The 49-year-old legal adviser, whom the chairman of the supervisory board, Philip Holzer, described as “Eintracht Frankfurt’s native”, will receive a contract until July 1, 2025. The cooperation with CFO Oliver Frankenbach was extended early until July 1, 2026.

In his profession, the 54-year-old is "one of the best financiers in Germany," said Holzer.

Frankenbach "always stay calm" and can "reasonably assess all the highs and lows of football".

And the numbers may not "always be good, but they are always correct," says Holzer.

The contract of board spokesman Axel Hellmann – Reschke is to relieve him in the future – runs until July 1, 2027, that of Krösche until July 1, 2025.

"A sign of continuity and stability"

Eintracht wanted to ensure "clear structures" in the top management, said Holzer on Wednesday after the supervisory board meeting about the "pioneering" personnel decisions.

"We sent a sign of continuity and stability to all shareholders."

According to information from the FAZ, in the event of a tie in the four-person board of directors, the member whose department made the decision has double voting rights.

"If we had a stalemate, we have a good solution," said Holzer without getting specific.

Relief for Hellmann

In the future, Hellmann will focus more on the overall strategy, business development, national and international association work and sports policy.

"We want to get more involved in national and international football issues in the future," said Hellmann.

His "diversity of departments" was "hardly manageable", said Holzer, explaining why Hellmann's work was relieved by his new board colleague Reschke.

Hellmann will also continue to be responsible for the areas of media and communication, sales and marketing as well as international relations and sports cooperation.

With the appointment of Reschke to the board, the club “takes into account the rapid development of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG and its subsidiaries.

We have a lot in front of the chest,” said Holzer.

"The decision to expand the Management Board was taken in agreement with the existing Management Board in order to distribute parts of their previous areas of responsibility to another shoulder in view of the enormous growth of the company."

Frankenbach has been with Eintracht since 1998 and was promoted from authorized signatory (from 2001) to CFO in 2015.

In the club he has the nickname ZDF (numbers, data, facts).

On Wednesday, Frankenbach announced a "loss of around 23 million" for the 2021/2022 season, compared to 36.1 million euros in the previous season.

The CFO described the EUR 23 million as a “relatively hefty loss”.

By winning the Europa League, Eintracht, which is interested in signing Bayern midfielder Marc Roca, was able to reduce the loss.

Nevertheless, Eintracht must also deal with “capital inflow measures”.

Clear cut by Corona

Frankenbach referred to the risk that the corona pandemic poses for the coming months.

In addition, it cannot be assumed that “we will just survive the group stage in the Champions League”.

And don't forget: "As the fifth German participant, we don't get the same money as the other four," explained the CFO.

Sales are expected to increase from EUR 160.4 million to around EUR 235 million.

He pointed out that Frankfurt had played half a season almost without spectators.

Due to the corona restrictions, only around 26,200 supporters attended the home games per game.

The spectator capacity of the Waldstadion is 51,500.

“Corona has certainly caused a clear cut.

However, we will master future tasks very well,” believes Frankenbach.

conversations with the fans

Under the guidance of his new board colleague Reschke, Eintracht is currently working through the storming of a few hundred Eintracht fans in the home game against West Ham United.

The fully qualified lawyer held out the prospect of talks with supporters “about standards in the future”.

"But we weren't the only club who had a pitch attack.

The pictures may have their price,” said Reschke about the threat of UEFA sanctions.

Eintracht had already lodged a complaint with UEFA during the final against Rangers in Seville because there were hardly any drinks or water for the spectators in the stadium.

“With a lot of luck and the discipline of the viewers, everyone involved narrowly missed a much worse story.

What some fans have gone through has turned out to be extremely hazardous to their health," said Reschke.