By Jaroslaw Adamowski
November 25 – The city of Wroclaw has acquired full control over local football club Slask Wroclaw. Slask currently plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of Poland’s professional football league and are currently the league champions.
In an unusual move – top clubs generally go from public to private ownership rather than vice versa – the city of Wroclaw will use its funds to safeguard the club’s future and revamp the club’s finances.
Under the deal, which was signed on November 22, Wroclaw purchased a 51% stake in the club from Polish billionaire Zygmunt Solorz-Zak who acquired his shares in April 2009.
Local media reported that Solorz will receive 3.6 million zloty (€860,000) for his shares, and a further 18 million zloty (€4.4 million) for land owned by the club from the city. This will allow Wroclaw to become Slask’s only owner, with a 99% stake in the club.
Following the acquisition, the city is now aiming to put the club’s finances back in order. Slask has been struggling to stay financially afloat, and reportedly owes about 12 million zloty (€2.9 million) to the city.
In its budget for 2014, Wroclaw plans to include a 16 million zloty (€3.9 million) subsidy to Slask in a bid to overhaul the club’s finances.
Slask’s sponsorship agreement with energy utility Tauron, worth about 5 million zloty (€1.2 million) per year, is set to expire by the end of 2013. Extending the deal or finding a new strategic sponsor for the club will be one of the most important tasks ahead of Pawel Zelem, who was appointed the new chief executive of Slask on November 22.
Established in 1947, the club’s stadium has a total capacity of 42,771 and hosted a number of matches at the UEFA Euro 2012 championships.
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