By Jaroslaw Adamowski
October 15 – In a move aimed to overhaul the finances of the troubled football club, Red Star Belgrade is in talks with Russia’s natural gas company Gazprom to sign a new sponsorship deal.
Under the current sponsorship contract, the Russian firm spends €4.5 million per year with the Serbian side. However, the Belgrade-based club is looking to extend the deal until 2017 and increase the amount by a further €1 million per year.
Most recently, Zvezdan Terzic, the general secretary of the Serbian club, said that Red Star’s debt is estimated at between €48 million and €50 million.
He said that the regulations imposed by the country’s sports bill were one of the reasons behind the financial woes of local football clubs, and called for amending the bill to facilitate securing new strategic investors for Serbian sides.
With the planned increase in sponsorship revenue, Red Star would be able to pay outstanding salaries to its employees, according to the information obtained by local paper Sport.
Earlier this year, Serbian media reported that the Russian firm, which has served as Red Star’s main sponsor since 2010, could become the next owner of the state-owned club.
The Serbian side’s stadium has a capacity of 55,000.
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