Works team

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A works team or works team , in football also works club and works self , is a team in sport that belongs to a company and in which this company has a direct influence on the sporting interests of the team. This team was mostly founded as a company sports club or as a subdivision from within the company. The term is particularly common in motorsport (e.g. Ferrari in Formula 1 ) and in football (e.g. Bayer 04 Leverkusen , VfL Wolfsburg ).

Soccer

Establishment of company sports clubs

The practice of company sport has its origins in the social commitment of the labor movements of the late 19th century. In the early days of football, company sports clubs and works clubs were established in many larger companies, in which company employees organized to play football together. The most famous clubs in Germany include:

The VfL Wolfsburg in 1945 as Volkssport- and Cultural Association (VSK) Wolfsburg thus not originally founded as a company sports team. After it was founded, however, the association was briefly called the Association for Physical Exercise Volkswagenwerk . Since a large part of the Wolfsburg citizens worked for Volkswagen and the club played its games in the stadium on the factory premises in the early years and especially because the Volkswagen Group has been the club's main sponsor since 1952 and 100% owner of the club since 2007, will also VfL Wolfsburg is often referred to as the works team.

A number of company sports teams were also founded abroad during this period, some of which are now among the top clubs in Europe. The best-known representatives are the English clubs Arsenal FC  - founded in 1886 by workers from the armaments company Royal Arsenal  - West Ham United - was founded in 1895 as "Thames Ironworks FC" (the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company was a shipyard on the Thames in West Ham ) - and Manchester United as the works team for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, as well as the Dutch club PSV Eindhoven , which was founded in 1913 as a works association of the Philips group. Further examples are FC Sochaux (1928, Peugeot ), Stade Reims (1910, Pommery ) or CASG Paris (1903, Société Générale ) from France and AC Parma (1913, Parmalat ) in Italy . In Argentina , Brazil and Uruguay ( Club Atlético Peñarol ), employees of British railway companies set up numerous works teams. In Eastern Europe in particular, works teams were widespread during the Soviet Union , some are still successful today: Zenit Saint Petersburg , Shakhtar Donetsk , Metalist Kharkiv , BATE Baryssau or Torpedo Moscow are examples.

In Japan , in particular , factory teams from large corporations are also a tradition. Early examples are Sanfrecce Hiroshima (1938, Mazda ) and the Urawa Red Diamonds (1950, Mitsubishi ). From the 1970s, in particular, the majority of clubs emerged from works teams from large companies, followed by the founding of Yokohama F. Marinos (1972, Nissan ), Júbilo Iwata (1972, Yamaha ) and Gamba Osaka (1980, Panasonic ).

Today there are works teams from state authorities. a. still in the top leagues in Thailand , such as Police United as the works team of the police (since 1960) or Singhtarua FC from the state port authority (since 1967), and in the West African Gambia , for example, B. the army ( FC Armed Forces ) or the port authority ( Gambia Ports Authority FC ) own associations. In many cities in Turkey , the city administrations had their own company sports clubs, some of which still exist today.

Company sports associations during the times of National Socialism and the GDR

From 1936 onwards, the German Labor Front and its sub-organization KdF founded so-called company sports communities in the large plants in order to bring their ideology to the people in sports. The most successful BSG in football were z. B. Gelsenguß Gelsenkirchen , Neumeyer Nürnberg , WKG Heinkel Rostock and WKG VW Stadt des KdF-Wagens , the BSG of the Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg . The Dunlop SV Hanau club, which was founded at the end of the 1930s , was a company sports association of the tire manufacturer Dunlop and exclusively with factory employees, qualified for the Tschammer Cup and promotion to the Gauliga Hessen .

After the end of the Second World War , all sports clubs in the GDR were dissolved. From 1948 company sports associations were founded throughout the country, the term being taken over from the Nazi era . The largest and most successful company sports associations included, for example, BSG Wismut Aue (today: FC Erzgebirge Aue ), BSG Stahl Riesa , BSG Chemie Leipzig and BSG Sachsenring Zwickau . After reunification , most of the BSG dissolved or were converted into registered associations.

Differentiation from associations with name sponsors and investors

Usually not referred to as works teams - but still controversial among fans and officials of other clubs - on the one hand clubs that sell their club name to a sponsor and on the other hand clubs that sell their shares in companies or private individuals and thus also influence day-to-day business give to them.

The sale of the club name to a sponsor and the associated renaming of the club was practiced in Germany, especially at the end of the 1960s and in the 1970s, by some clubs and is no longer permitted today. The best-known examples are SV Röchling Völklingen , which has been named after Röchling AG since 1966 , as well as SV Waldhof Mannheim (1972–1978: (SV) Chio Waldhof 07 ) and ASV Landau (1970–1979: Gummi Mayer Landau ). Between 1996 and 2006 the club was called TuS Ahlen (today Rot Weiss Ahlen ) after a merger of Athletics Rasensport Ahlen , LR Ahlen for short , which evoked intentional associations with the then main sponsor LR International . The Ahlen club logo has also been adapted to the company logo of the cosmetics manufacturer. Name sponsorship is still widespread in Austria today. So had the SK Sturm Graz since 1969 four different main sponsors as part of the club name, the brewery last Puntigamer . Also, FK Austria Wien and SV Ried sold in the meantime their name, the club SK Rapid Wien occurred in the 1976/77 season for a short time under the name SK Rapid Wienerberger on. The best-known example since 2005 is the renaming and simultaneous takeover of Austria Salzburg by the beverage manufacturer Red Bull . In Germany, the RB in RB Leipzig officially stands for grass ball sports club, but it also evokes associations with Leipzig's main sponsor.

Since Red Bull not only does name sponsorship, but also holds majority stakes in clubs such as FC Red Bull Salzburg or New York Red Bulls , these examples also belong to the group of investor clubs . In German professional football, the 50 + 1 rule prevents capital investors from gaining a majority of votes and thus the entry and takeover of control by large companies. Accordingly, the parent association must hold at least 50 percent plus one vote in the meeting of shareholders. With the so-called Lex Leverkusen , however, the exception was granted that companies that have been involved in the association for more than 20 years can still receive or keep the majority of the votes. This exemption initially affected the two clubs Bayer 04 Leverkusen (100% subsidiary of Bayer AG since 1999 ) and VfL Wolfsburg (100% subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 2007 ). Another beneficiary of this exemption has been TSG 1899 Hoffenheim since 2015 , where SAP founder Dietmar Hopp will receive 96 percent of the voting shares. From 2018 is at 96 Hannover , the Hannover 96 Sales & Service GmbH & Co. KG to Martin Kind acquire 100 percent of the voting shares.

In Germany, Red Bull bypasses this rule at the RB Leipzig club by de jure the company does not hold any shares in the club, but still de facto control through a more difficult membership regulation and the appointment of people close to Red Bull to the club management the club has. In addition to the aforementioned exceptions, several clubs have sold more than 50% of their shares to companies or individuals, but still hold more than 50% of the voting shares in order to comply with the 50 + 1 rule. Examples are Borussia Dortmund (94.57% third-party ownership), TSV 1860 Munich (60% Hasan Ismaik ), FC Carl Zeiss Jena (95% Staprix NV) or SC Fortuna Köln (99.745% DFC GmbH). Also, the FC Ingolstadt 04 is due to the close cooperation with Audi AG repeatedly referred to as a work club. However, quattro GmbH , an Audi subsidiary, only holds 19.94 percent of the shares. Therefore, CEO Peter Jackwerth made it clear in 2013: "We are not a works club."

In other European countries, in particular England and France , companies and investors can take over the majority of an association including voting rights without restrictions. The best-known examples of such takeovers are the English top clubs Chelsea FC , Manchester United , Manchester City , Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC ; Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco in France or Getafe FC in Spain.

Motorsport

The term “ works teams ” also exists in motorsport . The term refers to a racing team that is completely owned by an automobile or motorcycle manufacturer and in which both the vehicle and the engine are constructed.

Examples of works teams in Formula 1 are and were the teams Ferrari (since 1950), Mercedes (1954–1955, since 2010), Renault (1977–1985, 2001–2009, since 2016), Honda (1964–1968, 2006– 2008), Toyota (2002–2009) and BMW (2006–2009). Works teams are also common in other racing classes such as the Le Mans 24-hour race (e.g. Audi and Porsche ) or the DTM .

The picture looks similar in motorcycle racing . The manufacturers Honda , Yamaha , Suzuki , Aprilia , KTM and Ducati compete with factory teams in the MotoGP class of the motorcycle world championship . Factory teams are allowed to drive there with engine control units with software and hardware they have developed themselves, but have the disadvantage compared to the so-called open class , which have to use standard control units, that they are allowed to use less fuel per race and fewer engines per season.

The traditional motorcycle manufacturers Honda , Kawasaki , Yamaha and Suzuki from Japan , Ducati and Aprilia from Italy and BMW from Germany also compete with their own factory teams in the Superbike World Championship .

Other sports

While it is common in the North American sports leagues that all teams belong to private individuals or companies according to the franchise principle, in Europe the club system is decisive in almost all sports. In the German basketball league, it is only common to sponsor the club name. Nevertheless, especially the fans of the clubs resist the influence of the main sponsors. So protested z. B. Brose Baskets supporters at the end of 2013 with a banner and the words "We are not a works team. We are Bamberg!" against the influence of the automotive supplier Brose Fahrzeugteile .

In Japan, in addition to football and motor sports, it is common in other sports for corporations to provide their own works teams. So take z. B. in the badminton team championship or in the top baseball leagues exclusively factory teams.

In the e-sports in particular Asian companies such as are Samsung , Acer or Korea Telcom with its own works team active.

The German table tennis clubs SG Siemens Erlangen and TTBG Steiner-Optik Bayreuth also have origins in company sports clubs .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. 125 Years Together - The birth of Thames Ironworks FC | West Ham United. Retrieved July 26, 2020 (English).
  2. Meaning of the word Werkself on untrans.eu (accessed on March 5, 2014).
  3. Professional football in Japan: The J-League is booming Article of the taz of December 2, 2013 (accessed on March 6, 2014).
  4. TSG members unanimously: Hopp takes over the majority of the article on kicker.de from February 9, 2015
  5. Investors should take over Hannover 96 Article on focus.de from April 26, 2013
  6. FC Ingolstadt 04: Symbiosis between football club and car company Article on sueddeutsche.de from November 4, 2013
  7. Sheikhs, oligarchs and entrepreneurs: Investors in European football Photo gallery on n-tv.de (accessed on March 6, 2014)
  8. Honda becomes fifth pure works team Report on Blick.ch from October 4, 2005 (accessed on March 6, 2014)
  9. More works than in Formula 1: The new regulations draw manufacturers to Le Mans Report on the pages of the Motorsport Magazine from February 28, 2014 (accessed on March 6, 2014)
  10. Ducati could switch completely to Open Class Report on the pages of Motorsport Magazin from January 9, 2014 (accessed on March 6, 2014)
  11. ↑ Risk of explosion in Bamberg Report on sport1.de from December 20, 2013 (accessed on March 6, 2014)