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Nebojsa Covic in an urgent press conference directly stated that Partizan sports director Zoran Savic called ELPA to inquire about the Campazzo case.
He added that Crvena Zvezda made a mistake, but that the EuroLeague punishment was not adequate.
As he said: “I believe that it is necessary to speak in order to stop the lectures against Zvezda. It turns out that everything that goes wrong in the Euroleague is the fault of Zvezda. It is true that we made a mistake, but the punishment is not adequate. Numerous lies were told. Some media live to politicize the story. Starting with the contract and moving on. We are a club that has published its budget. Twice we gave a table with approximate salaries. Let others also provide those tables. The attacks on Zvezda are continuous”.
Covic gave details on the situation which resulted in a ban on registering new players until the 28th of February: “On July 15, 2022, we gave a statement to the Euroleague confirming whether there are debts, it’s a standard form. We said that we didn’t have any debts and that we had some agreements and settlements. In September, Nate Walter appears, then Hollins for 135.000 euros. We then paid off. We remained indebted to coach Dejan Radonjic for 243.000 euros according to the agreement and an installment of 25.000 was paid today”.
According to Covic, Zoran Savic is lobbying against Zvezda: “He called ELPA. Whether they will confess it or not and if they don’t, then they are lying. He also called ABA League sports director Milija Vojinovic to ask about registration. He calls Valencia, he calls Baskonia. What is that behavior, what is it? We don’t owe anything at this moment. We’ll see if we continue with the same dynamics… Probably Partizan also owes, like 99 percent of the clubs. Afterward, he wonders why there were chants against him about giving his head back to the horse (ed.note: a chant which is considered highly insulting is Serbia). We reached out to (ed.note: EuroLeague CEO) Glickman officially but never heard back. It is true that CAS did not accept that the temporary suspension should be lifted”.
He also had a message for Euroleague CEO Marshall Glickman: “Mr. Glickman says that the agents are to blame for bringing Campazzo “there”. We are not “there”. We are Red Star, we have a reputation. Obviously, the goal was for Campazzo to leave, but you saw that he didn’t. He will not only play in the ABA league, although it is very important to us, we also want to win it, as well as the Serbian Cup”.
Covic also touched on the issue of the financial help of the state – something that Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic officially admitted – and made a comparison with Partizan, which is also getting a similar financial boost, without mentioning them directly: “As of December 31, Zvezda had an average of 2.5 million euros for the postseason, which it received from the state. In 11 seasons, we earned 28 million euros from the state. I wonder today how someone can owe seven million euros in taxes to the state. We will see if fair play will be applied to that topic”.
Finally, he also addressed what Monaco’s star Mike James said on the issue of adding players like Vildoza and Campazzo and how the club got midseason the money to sign them: “Should I, as the president, get into a controversy with a player? Mike James is a good player, we would never take him to Zvezda. We showed this on the court with a 24 difference and a kiss on our emblem… “
Covic was referring to the recent game between Crvena Zvezda and Monaco which the hosts won. Before the game, Monaco coach Sasha Obradovic, a former Crvena Zvezda player, kissed the logo of the Serbian club on the center court.