By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Mozzart Bet and Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet must deal with respective tax debts in Serbia.
The financial status of the Belgrade clubs and specifically amounts owed to the government have been updated by the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. He noted a combined debt of €8.7M for the basketball divisions, including €7.2 connected to Partizan.
“There will be no tolerance,” underlined Vucic in an interview with TV Prva referring to both basketball and football regarding Partizan and Crvena Zvezda.
“They say that they collected 500,000 and I expect him to pay 500,000 tomorrow and keep paying the entire sum,” he referred to a recent financial update provided by Partizan president Ostoja Mijailovic.
“This also applies to Crvena Zvezda,” added Vucic on the €1.5M linked to Zvezda.
The team coached by legendary tactician Zeljko Obradovic qualified for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs and as the sixth-seed will take on third-seeded Real Madrid in a best-of-five series for a ticket to the Final Four, but the Belgrade rival missed the postseason cut. Both Partizan and Crvena Zvezda are in the hunt for the top seed on the AdmiralBet ABA League Playoffs bracket with later projected on-court collisions extending from the regional to the domestic level and the Playoffs in Serbia’s top-tier division.
Beyond strengthening respective squads for more success at the continental level and bragging rights in Belgrade derbies spreading across the regional and domestic leagues, both sides are expected to immediately address financial issues.
Meanwhile, Partizan president Ostoja Mijailovic had already stated this his team has 5 million euros in earnings just by ticketing so far.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net