RPL introduced external control in the Khimki football club

In the Russian Premier League (RPL), the first major financial emergency happened in several years. RPL introduced the “External Management” in the Khimki football club. The measure is associated with the threat of team players, located in the championship table next to the “departure zone”, to boycott the Sunday match against Zenit’s struggling for the gold of the Zenit championship due to wage arrears. The club is not yet trying to predict the consequences of decisions, only speaking of the promise of the League « to take steps to get out of a difficult situation. »

The Russian Premier League reported that the main composition of the Khimki club resumed training, which did not go out for several days. According to the President of the RPL, Alexander Alaev, this means that they eliminated the threat of a boycott of the match of the 25th round of the championship of the country. In it, on Sunday, Khimki is visiting with Zenit. This game is of great importance for both participants. The St. Petersburg club fights for the gold of the championship, six rounds before its completion, only two points behind the leader of Krasnodar, the Moscow region – for survival in the elite. “Khimki” are in 12th place, and their separation from the “torch” located on the 15th “Torch”, that is, from the “direct departure zone”, is 8 points.

Refusal of training with the leading players of the team arose due to the financial crisis. This week, information was confirmed about the existence of huge wage debts to players and staff.

It is believed that they were one of the reasons for breaking up with the club of the Spanish coach Frank Artiga, whom Magomed Adiev has already replaced.

The cancellation of the boycott took place after visiting Alexander Alaev’s training base “Himmok” and his conversations with players “not receiving salaries”. After it, he announced the adopted, among other things, according to the results of consultations with representatives of the Russian Football Union (RFU), the decision on the transition of the club to the “external management” of the RPL in order to “maintain the integrity of the competition”. According to Mr. Alaev, now not a single “Himmik” payment can “be committed without coordination with the League”. From the post in the Telegram channel of RPL it follows that the members of her board “agreed to advance the“ Himik ”on the account of future payments from sponsorship contracts of the league.” Alexander Alaev described this as « the first step to effectively resolve the debt. »

After a visit to the club, he emphasized that « certain payments have already passed, but this does not mean that the problem has been resolved. » “We will leave this situation and try to regulate financial debt as correctly and effectively as possible,” Sport-Express quotes Alexander Alaev.

Mr. Alaev, talking about the support of Khimki, noted that the RPL is “in touch” with the entrepreneur Tufan Sadygov and “has no doubt that he will also fulfill all his financial obligations.”

It was Mr. Sadygov, who last year, who became a person involved in the criminal case of fraud, who regularly call domestic sports media resources the “key investor” of the club, and he himself sometimes gives comments on him dedicated. However, Khimki “Kommersant” said that their founders are “four companies and in any of them the Sadygov Tufan is not a leader”. Earlier, the State Duma deputy, a member of the Club of the Club, Roman Tereshkov, said that he “has a number of shareholders”, and the “main investor” is the Khotkovsky Automobile Modern company. The interlocutor of Kommersant in Khimki refused to predict how “external management” would affect the near future of the team, saying only that “some steps will be taken to get out of a difficult situation that will help to solve part of the problems primarily relating to the players.”

Acute financial crises, which led to the collapse of clubs that are not included in the elite, in the year before last and last decade were almost the norm in domestic football. At different times, very famous teams, such as Saturn, Amkar, Alania, Moscow, Kuban, Anji, came across them at different times. However, in the current decade, despite the adverse circumstances – the pandemic of coronavirus, and then the “isolation” international sanctions, the Russian championship in this sense was highly stable. The last emergency of this kind is dated in it by the beginning of 2021. Then financial assistance to the suffering, like Khimki, due to giant debts and threatened to refuse to continue the Tambov season, the RFU and RPLs provided. From departure from the highest division and loss of professional status, it, however, did not save him.

Alexey Prepokhov