Fenerbahce are drowning in debt – Ali Koc

The Yellow Canaries are not in the best financial shape, the club’s president Ali Koc revealed on FBTV.

Ali Koc, the newly elected president of Istanbul’s Fenerbahce football club, has announced that the club’s debts have far exceeded previously disclosed figures, running to €621 million – a staggering 3.2 billion Turkish lira.

“The debt had been disclosed as 400 million euros. As of May 31, our total debt is actually 621 million euros. The largest part of that is financial debt. There are also debts in our sporting activities, and to the state,” said Koc during a Q&A on Fenerbahce’s television channel, FBTV.

Worryingly, over two thirds of the debt – 2.2 billion lira – is short term, and must be paid back this year, he said.

The club must also pay a further amount totaling almost another billion lira in operational expenses during the 2018-19 season, bringing the total amount to 4.1 billion Turkish lira (717 million euros).

The club’s income from ticket sales, corporate boxes, television revenues, season tickets and competitions is tied up for years, making a sudden windfall to clear the debt unlikely, and the club’s real estate can not be sold to clear the debt as it has been remortgaged.

A further low-interest loan of $50 million has been secured on the Fenerbahce board of directors’ guarantee to allow the club to restructure its debt, said Koc.

Ali Koc achieved a landslide victory over Aziz Yildirim, the Fenerbahce president for the past 20 years, in an election last month.