PRESS RELEASE FROM THE 1890 FOUNDATION

New Board of Directors for Genève Sports SA.

Following the increasingly significant challenges of the various entities of the Grenat group and the conclusions of the audit commissioned by the 1890 Foundation this summer, we have decided to strengthen the active collaboration between Genève Sports SA and the Clubs, Companies and Associations that it serves.

To consolidate this collaboration and allow it to develop adapted to the current and future needs of the entities, we have appointed a new Board of Directors for Genève Sports SA. It took office on November 1, 2023 and is composed of Mr. Philippe Baechler (President, representative of the Genève Servette Hockey Club), Mrs. Noura Merad (representative of the Servette Rugby Club), Mr. Thierry Regenass (representative of the Servette Football Club), Mr. Hervé Broch (representative of Prime & Co) and Mr. Steeves Emmenegger (representative of the 1890 Foundation). We already thank them for their commitment.

We would also like to warmly thank the outgoing members of the Board of Directors who have worked and built Genève Sports SA in recent years, more particularly Mr. Erick Pipault, former President. He proposed an entrepreneurial vision for the company, organized the work processes within Genève Sports SA and worked with talent and commitment for the entire Grenat Group.

This is to note that all the employees of Genève Sports SA, Prime & Co and the Clubs are facing with talent and courage the major challenges posed by the organization of numerous events since spring 2023 with the multiplication matches and other celebrations of sporting titles.

Reminder of the 3 projects

The rescue project
It all started in 2014 with the creation of the Servette Rugby Club of Geneva (resurrected version of the founding club of the Grenats clubs of 1890). Then followed, in 2015, the resumption of the SFC at the time of the announcement of the cessation of payments of the club. SFC, 17 times champion until the end of the 90s, has been in difficulty for 15 years, and will be relegated to League promotion. A seed idea, which will be the strength of the future project: putting all the club’s assets into a non-profit foundation, controlled by the competent cantonal supervisory authority: the 1890 Foundation was born. A period of sanitation begins and a sports project emerges, with a mission: to develop and support the sports training of young girls and boys from the canton and the region, to defend the values of sport and to contribute to the positive image of Geneva.

The sports project
A second period, between 2016 and 2022, is devoted to the sports project, with ambitions for training in football and hockey academies, in rugby schools and for elite sport. In 2017, a women’s football section joined the Foundation and took the name Servette FC Chênois feminine (SFCCF). In 2018, the GSHC, in the grip of great financial difficulties, was taken over alongside football and rugby in the 1890 Foundation.

The sporting successes are commensurate with expectations and work, in each club. In just 5 years (apart from the difficult Covid years), the rankings speak for themselves:

SFC: Swiss vice-champion 2023, in European competition

SFCCF: Swiss Champion 2021, winner of the Swiss Cup 2023

GSHC: Swiss Champion 2023, in Champions Hockey League 2023-2024

SRC: 2018 French Champion, currently in the Federal 1 championship in France

ACADEMIES: multiple Swiss Champion titles or Cup winners with juniors from all sports.

The sustainability project
The current period, 2023 – 2024, is that of sustainability. A large structure has been built in recent sporting years to meet needs, expectations and responsibilities. If the challenges remain above all sporting and the mission to continue supporting sports training for Geneva, they are also organizational and institutional: a group and companies have been created to support the Grenats in men’s and women’s football, hockey, rugby. The sole goal that we are pursuing today for the institution is to perpetuate the Grenat project as well as the social and sporting mission of the 1890 Foundation.

The Foundation Board
Didier Fischer, Steeves Emmenegger, Gregoire Pictet