Top Swiss football clubs to reimburse Covid aid money

The names of the clubs have not been made public, but Swiss public radio, SRF, said in July that nine clubs from the Super League and the Challenge League – the two highest Swiss football leagues – are involved. Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Several professional football clubs in Switzerland that received extra funds for Covid-related losses during the pandemic must reimburse CHF4 million to the federal authorities.

The Federal Office of Sport said this summer that top clubs had received around CHF10 million ($10.3 million) too much in state aid during the pandemic – CHF6 million for 2020 and around CHF4 million for 2021.

During the crisis, the federal authorities supported Swiss sport to the tune of CHF500 million “to avoid a weakening of the structures of Swiss sport”.

On Thursday, the sports office confirmed that it was asking the football clubs to reimburse the CHF4 million for 2021.

“Due to the extreme complexity of the situation, it was decided to carry out an overall analysis of the 2020 stabilization package and to waive a request for reimbursement. On the other hand, the situation is different for the year 2021,” it said in a statementExternal link.

“There is no room for manoeuvre for 2021, because the mechanisms and the problems encountered the previous year were known.”

The names of the clubs have not been made public, but Swiss public radio, SRF, said in July that nine clubs from the Super League and the Challenge League – the two highest Swiss football leagues – are involved. According to the report, the clubs received money from two state aid programmes for the same losses in their amateur, junior and women’s teams.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. The CHF10 million corresponds to a quarter of all state aid for professional football clubs, according to SRF.