Dagestani journalists associate collapse of "Anji" FC with Suleiman Kerimov's problems

After the transfer of the "Anji" Football Club (FC) to Osman Kadiev, Suleiman Kerimov continued to finance the football team, albeit not in such volumes as during the FC "golden age", the "Caucasian Knot" was told by the Dagestani sports commentators. According to them, then Osman Kerimov completely stopped financing the "Anji" FC, and the authorities of the republic are short of funds to finance the FC.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 30, the FC's agents announced that the debts of the "Anji" FC reached 250 million roubles. On August 1, the Federal Tax Service arrested the only account of the FC.

When the football team belonged to Suleiman Kerimov, a businessman and a senator from Dagestan, he spent tens times more money on the "Anji" team than the FC spends now, noted Magomed Batyrov, a sports commentator, a "Match TV" correspondent in Dagestan, and a sports columnist of the "Dagestanskaya Pravda".

According to Islam Abakarov, the editor for the sports department of the "Youth of Dagestan", after the transfer of the "Anji" FC to Osman Kadiev, Suleiman Kerimov "continued to finance the football team for a while."

"I do not know if Osman Kadiev needed such a difficult burden as the 'Anji' FC, but, according to the new owner, Suleiman Kerimov put the question that way: 'Either you, Osman, take the club, or I close it.' Even after the transfer of the "Anji" FC, Suleiman Kerimov continued to finance it. It is clear that he did that even in smaller volumes than earlier. And now, Osman Kerimov completely stopped financing the 'Anji'. Apparently, the current difficulties faced by the FC are connected with the lack of financing," Islam Abakarov said.

"It's probably hard for Osman Kadiev to finance the 'Anji' alone. And there are clearly no other people willing to finance the FC. The republic is subsidized, and it has a lot of other problems," the commentator noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 4, 2018 at 01:14 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.