German Bundesliga football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen is considering its options after a court ruled that it must pay back €15.9m ($20.3m), plus interest, to the insolvency administrator of a former sponsor.
The Cologne state court ruled yesterday (Wednesday) that the club has to return money received between October 2009 and June 2011 under a sponsorship deal with electricity supplier TelDaFax.
TelDaFax filed for insolvency in June 2011. However, the court ruled that the company had effectively collapsed at the time of the payments and Leverkusen officials had to have been aware of this situation in October 2009.
Leverkusen general manager Michael Schade said: “We are disappointed and surprised that many of our arguments and facts have not been considered. We will now wait for the verdict and then consider whether we will appeal against this judgment.”
TelDaFax had served as the club’s main shirt sponsor from July 2007 until its withdrawal from the deal in August 2011.