By Jaroslaw Adamowski
December 4 – German investor Michael Budzinski has announced plans to sell his majority stake in Hungary’s Vasas SC, Budapest-based football club. Vasas has a particularly strong following in Budapest’s north-eastern Angyalfold district. In spite of this, over the past years, the Hungarian club has been struggling to stay financially afloat.
Budzinski was quoted in a statement as saying that the club’s finances were in better shape than when he took over control over Vasas last year. In August 2012, Budzinski acquired a 99% stake in the club.
Laszlo Markovits, chief executive of Vasas, said that the club’s continuing financial and organisational woes were to be blamed for its instable situation. The club is now aiming to find a new partner which will allow its professional football squad to compete in the league, Markovits said.
According to the club’s chief executive, binding decisions are to be taken at the next board meeting which is scheduled to take place on December 12.
Founded in 1911, Vasas currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság II, the second tier of Hungary’s professional football league to which it was relegated in the 2012-2013 season. The Hungarian club’s Rudolf Illovszky stadium has a capacity of 18,000.
Vasas, which rose to prominence on the turn of the 1950s and 1960s, won the Hungarian league title six times between 1957 and 1977, and was a four time winner of the Hungarian Cup between 1955 and 1986.
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