We do not throw strangers

Gazprom extended an agreement with the German football club Schalke 04 despite the fact that the team will most likely go to the second Bundesligu

The term of the previous agreement ended in the summer of 2022, and it would seem what to rush to - all the extensions, and there were two of them, were concluded on the eve of the contract. And then suddenly the parties were impatient to meet more than a year before the ICS. The initiator, most likely, was Schalke 04-a hopeless outsider of the Bundesliga (last place, 14 points to a saving 15th position) needed to get guarantees from the title sponsor as soon as possible.

At first glance, there was no reason to go towards Gazprom. Moreover, the Russian raw material giant had every reason to say that he did not sign the second Bundesliga: it was one thing to sponsor a successful club, regularly performing in European competitions, and completely different to help losers. Which play this season so that the proud inscription "Gazprom" on their blue T -shirts looks more like anti -advertising. And you will not write in a report about the work done that the brand’s promotion is more successful than ever-it will look like a mockery. That is, there were all the prerequisites in order to make it clear to the German side at best that the Russian corporation did not intend to further let down a lot of money.

But the miracle happened, and the authoritative member of the Schalke 04 supervisory board Matthias Varnig with pleasure stated: “A prolonging agreement regardless of the league, Gazprom in the current situation sends a strong sign of fidelity and unity, thereby contributing to the economic stability of the club.”

It is nice to add that Varnig is also the executive director of the Nord Stream-2 AG company, and they and Vladimir Putin are former work colleagues in special services (Stasi and KGB), who have known since the late 80s of the last century. These details clarify the situation with a suitcase without a pen called “Schalke 04” - it’s hard to drag, but it’s impossible to quit. When your friend is in trouble - and so on.

The day after the re-signing of the “football” agreement in the Nord Stream-2 pavement area, the Academician Chersky Steam appeared, which hinted at continuing the work to complete the grandiose project, which is no better than the “shalke 04” in the Bundesliga. True, the German club came to such a life itself, and the “northern stream - 2” can fall as a victim of sanctions. In particular, the United States experiences such an hostility to the project that there is no strength to endure.

The answer to the machinations of the world gendarme was the signal sent by hesitating Germany. Translating from the elementary diplomatic language, the support of the German football club meant that the Russians did not abandon their own. In the sense - they do not throw strangers, but not quite strangers.

... In October 2006, in the city of Dresden, Russian President Vladimir Putin had another rather unusual business after the official visit-to participate in the signing of the Gazprom agreement with the Schalke 04 club. The situation is colorfully described by the presidential householder Andrei Kolesnikov. The organizers of the project really wanted Angel Merkel to participate in the ceremony, which would be beautiful, but this action alerted her. Vladimir Putin, on the contrary, was convinced of the mutual benefits of the agreement, for which ex-Chancellor advocated, and at that time the already senior Gazprom employee Gerhard Schroeder.

The story is silent, whose originally there was an idea, but the enthusiasm with which the Russian president perceived it could not help but make an impression. Even before the signatures of the main persons from the Russian and German side appeared on paper, an agreement was concluded on the cooperation between Zenit and Schalke 04 - that is, with the present and future wards of a socially responsible Russian corporation. The small preceded the big, there was nowhere to retreat.

The question of why Gazprom decided to make a generous gift to the German club, and did not support any Russian in addition to existing agreements, I leave it with brackets. You can’t provide all the suffering, you can’t help everyone without the poor - this has its own logic, although the desire to support Schalke 04 looked wild. In any case, it was quite difficult to explain to the average Russian that it was necessary to help German football with the money of Russian consumers of gas.

The fact that Vladimir Putin himself actively participated in the project immediately increased the significance of this project, although it did not get rid of questions. It was clear to everyone that this decision was not simple, but political. I would even say - geopolitical. The agreement on the football general sponsorship was seen a great strategic goal - not only to promote a gas brand in Europe, but also to create an island of Russian influence in the very heart of the Old World. And no secret operations, God forbid, we help exclusively football, give an impetus to the development of one of the most popular German clubs. The fact that behind a noble gesture is not just a private investor, but the largest private-state corporation only added a solidity transaction.

The “Schalke 04” based in Gelsenkirchen was not chosen by chance-the six-time champion of Germany was stably popular, somewhat no less than “Bavaria”, it has a huge circle of admirers, a region with glorious working traditions, with great possibilities of influence not only within the federal land of the Northern Rhine-Westphalia, but also on Germany as a whole. Roughly speaking, the political leadership of Germany was supposed to somehow respond to the generosity of the Kremlin.

The fact that the Golden era “Schalke 04” (this is the year of creation of the club) with five champions fell on the era of National Socialism, was not taken into account by the Russian side-it was and passed. But the fact that by the middle of the zero blue-white were again ready to lead the group of applicants for overthrow from the Bavaria throne could not but be taken into account when choosing a strategic partner. In Germany, they were worried whether Gazprom takes too cool, but the President of Russia immediately reassured the public: Bavaria may not worry, the Russian corporation is not going to buy Schalke 04. Nevertheless, with such a significant increase as 125 million euros (according to other sources - 100 million or even less) in five years, Gelsenkirchen could swing for big things.

He waved. A lot of things happened to Schalke 04 in almost a decade and a half with Gazprom. The Rurra club did not encroach on the championship status, but in 2010 and 2018 he became vice-champion, in 2011 he reached the Champions League semi-finals, having won the German Cup and Super Cup in the same year. In successful seasons, Gazprom regularly complemented the basic agreement with bonus payments, at some point “Schalke 04” was financially assigned only to “Bavaria”, only on the salary of players spending 125 million euros and having the opportunity to invite such stars as the cult Raul from the Madrid “Real” or the class of Huntelar from Milan. With each extension of the agreement (in 2011 and 2017), the rates increased, but it could not endlessly continue - in the sense that the ball is round, the money has money, and their presence not only contributes, but also corrupts.

I don’t know, Gazprom’s leadership looked closely at the fact that the spherefal coaches change like gloves, they are piercing with the transfer, and they part with the stars too easily. The club performed quite well every year in European competitions, periodically upsetting Russian teams - in the Europa League the Krasnodar was twice, and Lokomotiv was in the Champions League. With friendly Zenit, they diverged in a friendly way, having won one victory in friendly matches-these games were provided for by the agreement between clubs. Gazprom tried to revive the near -football life of Gelsenkirchen, in every possible way promoting his brand in attempts to win the sympathies of the demanding audience, especially the most active - its fan part. It turned out with varying success, but, in the end, there would be victories - there would be love.

Football successes did not mean that the recognition of Gazprom as a title sponsor would spread in general to Russian policy. One of the critical moments happened at the end of March 2014, when the European Parliament, outraged by the Russian “capture” of Crimea, tried to convince Schalke 04 to enter the next game without the usual Gazprom inscription on T-shirts. But on such an Afront, risking to remain without money, the club did not go.

All this time, the main guide of the warm relations with Gazprom was the chairman of the Club Supervisory Board, the billionaire and the “meat king” Clemens tennis, who in every possible way emphasized his proximity not only with Alexei Miller, but also with Vladimir Putin. According to tennis, at the next meeting, Putin asked not only about his beloved icebine, that is, about the pork mall, but also about how Schalke 04 is doing.

At the same time, the club’s leadership emphasized in every possible way that he was not going to dance under Gazprom’s pipe - the representative of the corporation in the observation council did not have the right to vote. This went on for a long time until this post in the summer of 2019 was occupied by the influential friend of Vladimir Putin Matthias Varnig. Vagniga’s parish was very useful, because difficult times occurred. The record 40 millionth profit for 2018 did not even cover debts, with the head coach of Domenico Tedesko after 0: 7 from Manchester City in the Champions play-off Champions League in March 2018, and it was clear that it would not work to return the former well-being quickly.

But the case was not limited to financial and gaming problems. In the summer of 2020, the positions of Clemens Tennis were shaken, which by that time was headed by the Slalke 04 supervisory board. Yes, not just staggered, but catastrophically. At the head enterprise his meat holding in the town of Red-Vitenbruk, a coronavirus infection was infected with one and a half thousand people, mostly migrant workers. The holder of almost half a billion state, which invested a lot of money in Russian enterprises, allowed himself to speak incorrectly about his employees, and the details revealed by the prosecutor’s office simply terrified the public.

The employer was guilty that two districts of the Earth of the North Rhine-Westphalia were planted on hard quarantine. The fans of his beloved club went to the "Delicus Arena" demanding to immediately expel the capitalist-operating. The manifestants motivated their demand by the fact that Schalke 04 was created as a working miner club and it is not good to disgrace the glorious traditions of unseemly affairs. Friendly relations with Gazprom did not save from the resignation of tennis.

In the fall, the rivals began to deal with Schalke 04, as with the Westphalian sausage. The fall beat the record behind the record, and by the spring it became clear that the club would hardly have saved from departure from the Bundesliga. And the loss of the title sponsor would mean that you can forget about the quick return to the elite.

The fact that the problems of Schalke 04 coincided with the problems of the Northern Stream - 2, forced the parties to act immediately. The role of Matthias Varnig in salvation of the agreement should not be belittled, but, according to some information, the decrease in the classroom will also reduce sponsorship payments - from 20 to 10 million euros per year. If the club lingers in the second Bundesliga, the amount will continue to decrease, but if the return takes place quickly, the club will receive bonuses.

So the history of friendship of the Russian gas corporation and the German club on the number 15 does not end. The relevant Gazprom services can report to their leadership and the leadership of Russia that mutually beneficial cooperation will continue until the mid-20s. I believe that representatives of the German side exhaled primarily with relief.

Well, Russia in the person of Gazprom fulfilled its allied duty. Even those who were developing a strategic line under the unspoken motto “Sport is a continuation of the policy of soft power by means of soft power” do not believe that it is even more loved for this.

Do not love. They will not love for anything.