FCC welcomed as a new CityCard partner

Membership card at the front, CityCard at the back: this is the chip card that all 5,500 members of FC Carl Zeiss Jena will receive. In future, this new membership card can be used to make cashless payments in the soccer club's fan stores at the Markt, in the ad hoc arena in the Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld and in the Sparkassen-Arena. FC Carl Zeiss Jena Spielbetriebs GmbH also issues the CityCard to its employees.

"This new cooperation will give a further boost to the positive development of the CityCard in Jena," said Lord Mayor Dr. Thomas Nitzsche at the joint presentation with the Managing Director of FC Carl Zeiss Jena Fußball Spielbetriebs GmbH, Patrick Widera, FCC President Ralph Grillitsch, CityCard Managing Director Christian Velinger, the Chairman of the Board of Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland, Michael Rabich, Michaela Jahn-Neubert, Chairman of the Board of Initiative Innenstadt, and its City Manager Katja Jarmer.

More than 1,300 city administration employees already use the CityCard

The CityCard was once launched with the aim of promoting the regional economy, recalled Nitzsche. "As an employer in the city of Jena, we led the way here and introduced the CityCard as an alternative remuneration incentive system - around 1,300 employees are now actively using it," said the Lord Mayor. "After some effort, we can now proudly say that a critical mass of issuing points and users has been created in order to generate a further snowball effect." Nitzsche thanked all the partners involved for their joint commitment up to this point and added: "I am convinced that we will expand our cooperation with the city center initiative and its city manager Katja Jarmer and look forward to working together."

The City Center Initiative once provided the impetus for the CityCard project and supports the project by promoting the card and paying the set-up fee for members of the initiative. "35 retailers in Jena's city center are already participating in the CityCard as acceptance partners and we are delighted that the fan stores are now also taking part and offering the CityCard as a payment method," said Jarmer, who has been City Manager since March 2024. There are now a total of 104 partners in Jena and the Saale-Holzland district that accept the CityCard as a means of payment. The plan is to expand the network further - particularly in the Saale-Holzland district and in Eisenberg and the surrounding area.

Goal: to support local owner-managed retailers, service providers and restaurateurs

"We particularly want to support local owner-managed retailers, service providers and restaurateurs with our regional voucher card," says Michael Rabich, CEO of Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland. The company developed and launched the CityCard together with the city center initiative, the city of Jena and the Saale-Holzland district. Employers also benefit from vibrant city centers, said Rabich. "After all, attracting and retaining skilled workers requires not only a good corporate culture, but also a region worth living in."

Around 100,000 euros are currently spent every month with the CityCard. 3000 cards provided by employers are in circulation. 50 employers pay their employees a fixed monthly amount on the CityCard. In addition, there are now around 5,500 new FCC membership cards and 400 fan cards for the Science City Jena basketball team - tripling the number of CityCards issued.

According to FCC President Ralph Grillitsch, the cards with a payment function will be issued to members by the end of September. Discounts are also planned for members who use the CityCard to pay in the ad hoc arena in the Ernst Abbe Sports Field and in the FCC fan stores.

Special thanks to the soccer club came from Christian Velinger, the CityCard Managing Director: "I think it's great that FC Carl Zeiss Jena is so committed to supporting the CityCard, our regional heart project - whether as an employer for employee bonuses, as an acceptance partner or as the issuer of the new membership card with CityCard payment function."