By Samindra Kunti
June 26 – Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet has sold leading Belgian club Standard Liege to Italian Bruno Venanzi for an estimated €30 million. Duchatelet insists that this does not signal a retreat from football.
Duchatelet, a Belgian businessman who added Charlton to his network of European football clubs last January, is a majority shareholder at FC Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany, UIjpest FC in Hungary, and AD Alcoron in Spain. Duchatelet also has an interest in Belgian club Sint-Truiden.
Venanzi, an Italian businessman, is a current vice president at Standard Liege. He co-founded energy company Lampiris.
Duchatelet said that things became “complicated” at Standard where his ownership was met with intense fan opposition following the sale of star players.
He bought Standard in 2011 for €41 million and immediately sold star players Steven Defour, Axel Witsel, Eliaquim Mangala and Mehdi Carcela. Under his chairmanship Standard failed to challenge Anderlecht and Club Brugge, the other behemoths of Belgian football, and often the relationship between the club and fans was strained.
“I will stay in football,” said Duchatelet. “But not Belgian football. Bruno has the intelligence and the vision to run this club. Not everyone has that. A football club is not easy to manage. I plan to stay in football. I still have a few clubs abroad.”
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