Football hosts

Purchase history of Russian teams

Over the relatively short history of Russian football, almost all clubs have managed to change owners, some more than once. Often these transactions were accompanied by high-profile scandals, and their financial details were never disclosed. Of greatest interest to buyers are Moscow clubs, as well as the real estate they own. Those businessmen who acquire provincial teams often do not pursue sporting goals, but take on social responsibility, expecting preferences from regional leaders.

"Locomotive". One of the few clubs that did not change their owners. But the leadership of the railway department, which owns Lokomotiv, has changed. The foundation for the club’s well-being was laid in those days when Nikolai Aksenenko was the head of the Ministry of Railways. Under him, a stadium and a base were built, and the cost of these projects amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. Under former Russian Railways President Gennady Fadeev, Lokomotiv feared that funding would be cut, but the club's budget increased to $50 million a year. Now, with the appointment of Vladimir Yakunin to the post of president of Russian Railways, changes are again expected at Lokomotiv. The new head of Russian Railways has already called on the club's leaders to look for additional investors. But, as a rule, serious investors are willing to finance football clubs only in exchange for a substantial stake.

"Spartacus". In the mid-90s, a controlling stake in Spartak was in the hands of club president Oleg Romantsev and his son. But by 2002, the club gradually passed to Andrei Chervichenko. The businessman, having paid off his debts and registered the team base in Tarasovka as the property of Spartak, increased the club’s capitalization. If Chervichenko had managed to secure territory from the Moscow authorities for the construction of a stadium, the cost of Spartak would have increased several times. But, unable to cope with this task, Chervichenko soon sold a controlling stake in Spartak to Leonid Fedun. Now the main task of the management is the same - to find an opportunity to build their own stadium in Moscow.

CSKA. The club, which at one time belonged to the Ministry of Defense, in the mid-90s was more interested in investors as an appendage to the CSKA clothing market. In 1994, the club came under the control of businessman Andrei Trubitsin. In 2000, Trubitsin repeatedly stated that he was under pressure from the secret services to force him to sell the club. Aeroflot and the so-called “big CSKA” also showed interest in PFC CSKA. In 2001, it was announced that the new shareholders of the club were AVO-Capital (26%), Big CSKA (25%) and the offshore company Blue Castle Enterprises Limited (49%), and Evgeniy Giner was appointed president of PFC CSKA. Later, the possibility of buying the club by Roman Abramovich was discussed more than once, but there was no concrete evidence. For several years now, Evgeny Giner has been trying to obtain permission to build his stadium on Peschanaya Street.

"Moscow". One of the youngest clubs in the Premier League was created in 1996, after the ZIL plant sold Torpedo to Luzhniki and in its place created a new football team - Torpedo-ZIL. In November 2002, the club, which was close to bankruptcy, bought out Norilsk Nickel, renaming it Torpedo-Metallurg. Later, the mayor of the capital, Yuri Luzhkov, agreed that the team would be named “Moscow”. Together with the team, Norilsk Nickel planned to buy the stadium on Vostochnaya Street, but it seems that it has not yet succeeded. The reconstruction of the sports facility did not begin, although the plans were enormous. The latest of them is to create a training center on Vostochnaya Street for Russian national teams of all ages.

"Ruby". Since 1994, the Kazan team has been a communal institution “Football Club “Rubin” and is financed from the city budget of the capital of Tatarstan. But after this year, in which the 1000th anniversary of Kazan is celebrated, it is possible that subsidies for Rubin will be cut, and the club itself may be bought by one of the large enterprises close to the government of Tatarstan.

"Dynamo". Until 2001, the controlling stake of Dynamo CJSC, whose founders were club employees, the stadium and team veterans, did not belong to anyone. In 2001, the shares were redistributed. Of these, 50% ended up with the Dynamo Development Fund, headed by FSB Major General Vladimir Kudiyarov, 25% - with the All-Russian Physical Culture and Sports Society "Dynamo", headed by the First Deputy Director of the FSB, Colonel General Vladimir Pronichev. The remaining shares remained with the old founders of the club. At the same time, a three-year sponsorship contract was signed with YUKOS for $18 million. Last year, it was announced that 51% of the shares of Dynamo CJSC were transferred to the Fedcominvest company, headed by Alexei Fedorychev. It is possible that the shares were actually transferred only to management and not sold. So it is quite likely that all the expensive football players bought by Fedorychev for more than $70 million do not belong to Dynamo, but to the businessman himself. Now Alexey Fedorychev is working on plans for the reconstruction of the Dynamo stadium.

"Torpedo". In 1996, the ZIL plant sold all rights to the Torpedo trademark to a foundation headed by Vladimir Aleshin, chairman of the board of directors of Luzhniki OJSC. In the summer of 2003, there was a real possibility of businessman Alexander Mamut purchasing the club. An approximate amount was even mentioned - $50 million. The deal fell through at the last moment - Aleshin was not satisfied with the payment scheme for the shares.

"Saturn". In the 90s, Saturn was financed from the city budget of Ramensky and local businessmen. With the club’s entry into the Premier League, the main costs of maintaining the team were borne by the government of the Moscow region, headed by Governor Boris Gromov. In 2002, Saturn entered into a partnership agreement with the television company REN TV, but less than two years later it was terminated at the initiative of the club. In March 2004, it was officially announced that a six-year contract worth $60 million had been concluded with the Nafta-Moscow company, which had previously negotiated the purchase of the Italian club Roma. Under the terms of the agreement, Nafta was supposed to take an active part in the corporatization of the club. But for some reason the deal did not take place. Now Lithuanian businessman Vladimir Romanov is interested in the club.

"Shinnik". Back in early 2004, the president of the club, senator from the Yaroslavl region Nikolai Tonkov, announced his intention to sell the team due to a lack of financial resources, but, apparently, only recently this problem has become especially acute.

It has not yet been possible to find a general sponsor for the team. On July 10 last year, Shinnik signed a sponsorship contract with SIBUR, after which the governor of the Yaroslavl region, Anatoly Lisitsyn, announced that a new general sponsor had been found. Shinnik athletes were even ordered T-shirts with the company logo. However, some time later, the governor himself denied this information, saying at a press conference that “due to a long-standing conflict around the tire plant, it was not possible to reach an agreement.” As you know, the president of the club, Nikolai Tonkov, previously headed a tire plant and left this position after the arrival of the new management of the SIBUR company. The Vremya Novostei correspondent was told by the SIBUR press service that the sponsorship will last only one season. The contract amount is not disclosed.

Currently, several well-known enterprises and organizations are being considered among possible sponsors, including RAO UES of Russia. But so far the negotiations have not brought positive results. According to the governor of the Yaroslavl region, “we need a sponsor who would cover 70% of all club expenses.” Considering that the team's budget is estimated at 14-15 million dollars, we are talking about an amount of more than 10 million dollars.

As the club's press service told Vremya Novostey, negotiations with potential sponsors are ongoing. For now, Yarpivo remains one of Shinnik's major sponsors.

"Amkar". The club was created at the Perm Mineral Fertilizer Plant in 1993 and is still largely financed by the funds of Mineral Fertilizers JSC, whose head Vladimir Chuprakov is unlikely to ever sell his Amkar.

"Alania". In 2000, Alania was transformed from a public organization into a joint-stock company, the main shareholder of which was the Republic of North Ossetia. Since then, two factions have been fighting for control of the club. At the end of 2003, the shares of the football club were actually transferred to the Istok company, but less than a year later the alcohol producer terminated the agreement with Alania. The place of Istok was taken by OJSC FAYUR-Soyuz, and a few months ago Alania almost went bankrupt. Now the republic, having received a new president, has again taken the football club under its wing, and Sergei Takayev has returned to the position of head of the club.

"Tom". The football club belongs to the city and has been financed by different companies over the years. Since 1995, the team has been supported by the Eastern Oil Company, whose vice-president Viktor Kalyuzhny later helped the Moscow Torpedo. In 1999, Vostokgazprom became a sponsor of Tom. Now Tomskneft has agreed to support the team. But in any case, a considerable part of the costs always fell on the regional budget and not a single company showed interest in buying the Siberian team.

"Rostov". In 2002, a controlling stake in Rostselmash, owned by the Rostov region, was transferred to the owner of the Donskoy Tabak company, Ivan Savvidi, and the team was renamed Rostov. Savvidi, who owns the Olympus - XXI Century stadium, has repeatedly emphasized that this is an unprofitable business, but he is ready to bear the costs at the request of Governor Vladimir Chub.

"Terek". The Chechen Club, whose president is Ramzan Kadyrov, is the property of the republic, although it is financed by a number of large federal companies. It is still difficult to imagine a situation in which someone would buy this football club.

Alexey BELOV, Yaroslavl, Andrey VDOVIN, Konstantin IVANOV