Untold Arsenal » Bosnian football & EPL – spot the difference

Bosnian football and the EPL by Armin Medic

In a hilly, small Balkans country called Bosnia there is a Premier
League. Which sounds a bit like England – but that’s where the similarity ends.

But even so, we should not ignore the Bosnian League, because of the story that follows…

In the season 2008/9 FK Sloboda managed to clinch a position in the newly established UEFA League, but during the licensing process, the Bosnian Football Federation banned them from further European competitions.

The explanation was simple, apparently there is no place in Europe for teams who owe money.

After this verdict officials of FK Sloboda paid their debts, but the verdict remained the same.

For their next step Sloboda complained to UEFA, but the answer from Andrea Traveso of UEFA was clear, there is no re-evaluation process, and the banning of Sloboda was a final decision.

All of which leaves FK Sloboda in a really critical situation. Their debts are now so high that they cant even afford hosting for the team’s web page, so it remains suspended. The club owes money for communal services, they owe to banks, player salaries… But the
reason Sloboda didn’t get their license are transfer debts.

And that is what get me to point why I found it interesting for those who follow the English Premier League (hm I don’t know why I write “English”, even I, a Bosnian, I consider only one league as the Premier

League, and that’s not Bosnian one for sure). Lately there has been the news that CSKA Sofia, the first Berbatov club, want to sue Manchester Utd because Manchester Utd are not paying the Solidarity Fee, what is amount of money every team is obligated to pay to the team that has developed a young player.

It is symbolic: about 1% of transfer money, but its probably much more than all of FK Sloboda’s debts.

And who know, if we would look what is under surface, how many such debts we could find.

Actually I would not like Manchester to be banned, but a warning would be fine. Doing nothing could only make things worse, because when you look through their figures once, you will have to do it whole life.