Image Credit: Zilina Club Official Social Media
Chinanews Client Beijing, April 3 (Zhang Yifan) Zilina, a small town located on the banks of the river Wach in northern Slovakia, is picturesque. For those who love to travel, it is a great place for hiking, climbing or winter skiing. The vicissitudes of more than 700 years have left traces of the late Middle Ages there.
The team here is just like the city's long history, enough to make the locals proud. In Slovakia, Zilina has always been a giant. They have won the championship seven times in league history and have also stood on the stage of the Champions League.
But now, they have chosen "suicide" in the global sports vortex caused by the spread of the epidemic.
The Slovak Premier League has long been declared closed, but the epidemic continues to spread in continental Europe. The loss of the game made it difficult for the team to maintain their daily livelihood. So a self-help started.
Unfortunately, after difficult communication, a total of 17 players on the team refused to accept the salary reduction.
Announcement on the official website of Zilina regarding the liquidation of assets by the club.
In a rage, Zilina announced the termination of the 17 players and rebuked them for their lack of loyalty to the club. The club reluctantly stated in the statement that the players' income is far higher than the domestic salary level, but nowadays, the players regard the money as higher than the future of the team.
The new crown pneumonia epidemic caused huge economic losses to the club, and the termination of 17 players also made Zilina almost collapse in an instant. The club publicly announced that the team has begun to liquidate assets, and the well-known Spanish sports newspaper "Marca" even broke the news that they have entered bankruptcy liquidation procedures.
Zilina dismissed 17 players who were unwilling to reduce their salary, making the club's future no longer optimistic. For the club, large-scale cancellation is undoubtedly a "suicide" means of survival.
On the domestic sports information platform, the data of Zilina is basically 0.
Most of the players with high wages are the main force, and the withdrawal of 17 people in one breath will undoubtedly be the last straw to crush the club. But for this team, which relies on selling players to maintain capital turnover, the stagnation of international football is the root cause of their despair.
Last year, the team sold Nova Bozhnik to Feyenoord in the Netherlands for 4.6 million euros, but the Dutch team currently only pays 1/10 of the transfer fee. With a summer income of about 0 this summer, the team had to ring a desperate pendulum.
Before the league stopped, Zilina ranked second with 45 points, and hopes to impact the championship in the rematch. But from heaven to hell, it only took a short month.
Before the shutdown, Zilina ranked second in the league.
However, Zilina insisted that they could retain their qualification for the Slovak Super League. After the epidemic is over, they will promote a large number of youth team players to supplement their combat effectiveness. Rather than an inspiring team, it is better to say that it is a weak "painting."
As analyzed above, players with high salaries and dare to challenge the club are undoubtedly the team's main lineup. In this world, if a team can survive under such "blood loss", it is undoubtedly a miracle in the history of sports. Zilina management also said that during this new crown epidemic, many teams in Slovakia will go bankrupt or disappear completely.
Although this team may not be well known by most fans, on the information of the domestic sports information platform, there is very little information about Zilina Club. In fact, it is not a "stranger" in Chinese football.
Announcement by Zilina Club on liquidation of assets.
One year ago, they once played a friendly match with Guangzhou Evergrande and defeated the Chinese Super League 2: 0. This is not the only intersection between them and Chinese football. In the past few years, they have also discussed with Guo Qing, Shandong Luneng and other teams in the offseason.
But apart from that, I am afraid that few Chinese fans know about this small non-mainstream giant that has 113 years of history. Perhaps you have seen its name and will soon forget it.
The main defender Shkriniar, who currently plays for Inter, has stopped here before going to Serie A. The "diners" who traveled to Apennine with a price of 1.2 million euros have already turned into one of the top European central defenders, and have become the true main force of European football giants familiar to Chinese fans.
Zilina had a friendly match with Luneng and other teams
Even under the news of the announcement of the termination, very few netizens left emotions. But now on its official website, there is a message that the team is quietly starting to liquidate assets.
Probably for most people in this world, Zilina is just an obscure team. They are difficult to stand on the stage of the highest level in Europe, but for the local fans, it is an indispensable beloved thing in life, and even the entire family's feelings for football.
The manager of Torquay United, the seventh league in the UK, has received calls from more than a dozen fans every day. Among them, old fans want to donate their savings to the club. Maybe in their eyes, money, time, energy and other seemingly precious things are not as good as their beloved football.
A few days ago, Zilina was still sharing with fans how to exercise at home.
In this storm, far more than the lone sail of Zilina was caught in the center of the "vortex". Not long ago, Sion, Switzerland, terminated nine players who did not want to reduce their salary during the new crown outbreak. The Uruguayan Football Association also temporarily fired all about 400 staff.
For the big clubs with thousands of fans, maybe they can survive the crisis through reasonable operation and multi-party help. But many teams like Zilina can only secretly swallow the bitter fruit and even disappear into the dust of history.
If not to survive, which team is willing to choose "self-defeating arms"?
Sports is a kind of spiritual sustenance. I hope that Zilina and the teams who are in the same situation as them can die and give fans who love them the opportunity to continue supporting them. (Finish)