March 17 – The swathe of redundancies at FIFA’s once trumpeted but increasingly troubled museum in Zurich shows no sign of diminishing. After eight employees were dismissed at the beginning of the year, the management is now getting rid of another 36, according to Swiss reports.
The loss-making museum, which opened just over a year ago, has already parted company with its inaugural managing director Stefan Jost over “contrasting views” on its future development.
Late last year, an internal letter was apparently sent to staff warning of further cutbacks following recommendations of a working group chaired by joint deputy general secretary Zvonimir Boban as part of a restructuring ordered by Gianni infantino.
FIFA are reported to have invested CHF 140 million in the museum but have apparently now closed the museum’s food and drink area with contracts being terminated at the end of either April or June.
Last year, the museum, the third largest in Zurich with more than 1,000 exhibits and 500 videos over 3,000 square meters, had over 100 full-time staff. By mid-2017 it will have half that. “By the middle of July, we will have dismantled 51 full-time positions,” confirmed interim director Marc Caprez to the neue zurcher Zeitung newspaper.
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