New president will save Berlin Adler

Berlin. Entrepreneur Christoph Sonka is optimistic about the future. However, things are looking bleak for the striking youth players.

It was on Tuesday, the day after the bitter cancellation of the Junior Bowl, the final for the German Youth Championship in American football, the Berlin Adler presented a new president. The game was actually supposed to take place in the Berlin Poststadion, but the Adler, who would have played in the final against the Düsseldorf Panther for the third time, called off the game. The club is in a deep crisis.

First, three coaches were fired after a dispute over unpaid fees at the Professional association including the head coach, who trained both the U20 team and the men’s team. All three coaches were then fired. The youth players then went on strike. The men did not play in the game either. Their official reason: too high a level of sickness. As a result, both teams have lost their licenses and will start the coming season in the third league instead of the first. The Eagles, who are already struggling with debts, are also facing fines.

How the new president wants to help the traditional club

And although the club is more of a cut-up chicken than a proud bird of prey, on Monday the new president Christoph Sonka has taken over the chairmanship of the struggling club. “I’ve stepped in to put the misery right,” he promises. He has also brought a new finance director, Georg Semechin, into the club structure. The previous general manager, Denis Milanovic, who is said to have played a major role in the financial situation, is to concentrate on sporting matters in the future.

Sonka is a product of the Eagles. He himself competed for the German Youth Championship played – and won. “It’s an incomparable experience that leaves a lasting impression,” says the man who runs a personnel and recruiting agency in Berlin. “I do it because I feel connected to my Eagles.” He was president from 2000 to 2003 and also a sponsor in recent years, although he didn’t expect “a lot of income” from it. But the Eagles have left their mark on him, he says. He raves about club life and about how he wouldn’t speak English nearly as well without the Eagles. Football, he says, is training for life and not just for a game.

The Berlin Adler were actually supposed to play in the Junior Bowl on Sunday. However, the club has cancelled the game.
© Celine White | Celine White

“It is a difficult situation,” says the new president However, financially it is not so bad, as the Morgenpost reported after looking at documents. “There are open items, but they are relatively manageable.” There are no half a million euros in debt. “The club is not facing bankruptcy, there will always be a landing on its feet,” says Sonka optimistically, but also admits that he has not yet been able to look through all of the financial documents in his shorter term in office. “The internal audit is being carried out, everything is being sorted out, savings are being made wherever possible.” “All the waves will calm down,” assures Sonka in an interview with the Morgenpost. And the fact that the Eagles are now playing in the third division offers a chance for a fresh start without the pressure of the first division.

President Sonka on the strike: “There must have been a lot of influence.”

Sonka is not happy with the dismissed coach Zachary CavanaughWhen asked about the youth players’ strike, he replies: “There must have been a lot of influence.” They were blinded or it was loyalty to the coach. But that’s just how it is. That had already reached our club before and in football it happens almost every season in some club.”

The youth players must now end their strike pay dearly“These young people are a lost generation.” They will definitely not come back to us. “They will also receive severe bans from the association,” says Sonka. However, he does not rule out working with individual players “who were not ringleaders and still want to play for us.” In general, however, he is not personally worried. “We have enough players and coaches to tackle the next season.”

You can read more news from Reinickendorf here.

topicnews · September 4, 2024

New president will save Berlin Adler

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