Financing and its transparency in Polish sports has recently become a hot topic after the Olympic Games in Paris, where it concerns sports associations and the Polish Olympic Committee. However, we cannot forget that in domestic football there are always situations that may raise some doubts. These include subsidizing football clubs by cities or living beyond one's means.
Bartłomiej Pawłowski sat down and delivered a monologue. “This is a disruption of the games”
Widzew Łódź footballer Bartłomiej Pawłowski presented his view on such situations. – Lechia does not pay its players, but it is allowed to play in the games. Other clubs have three months of arrears and nothing. It is a disruption of the games if the city ZOO is able to transfer millions so that Śląsk can pay off its debts – he said in an interview with It came in.
– Most Ekstraklasa or lower league clubs are sponsored from the citizens' or state budgets. Everyone can afford to pay off debts, as ten million is filtered from above after each season. You don't have to manage like a manager – added bitterly the former player of Lechia Gdańsk or Śląsk Wrocław, among others.
Pawłowski pointed out that such situations do not occur in the Czech Republic. He added that when a club goes bankrupt in the West, UEFA comes and issues a transfer ban. He also pointed to the example of Spain, where clubs must guarantee budgets for the entire season.
– Club presidents know that if they pull a stunt, sign three players for huge amounts of money, and fail to achieve success and earn money by qualifying for European cups, the club will go bankrupt. Things will not be normal as long as clubs that are poorly managed, do not earn money in competition, do not sign good sponsorship agreements, are kept alive artificially. Because the mayor of the city will come with a purse of money. Or a transfer from a state-owned company will be made. Everything that is lost or poorly invested will be compensated. This is the use of money that the rest of the people pay in taxes – he said.
– Zagłębie belongs to KGHM, so it's a bit different than transfers from the city hall to pay off debts in the form of advertising: that you pay ten or twelve million for a logo on a shirt. If they get stuck, it's not MPK that's going to pay, it's ZOO. If they get stuck on ZOO, it's aquarium. And so on… – he listed. According to the Widzew Łódź footballer, many clubs don't have a healthy business approach.
– It is not the one who has a better financial structure that wins, but the one who can count on more help – he concluded.