Instead of the Champions League, foreign investors brought debt and embarrassment. Yet we are made for the football business, says Trencin

Slovak club football unfairly carries the reputation of being a business black hole, says AS Trenčín’s general manager Róbert Rybníček. “We have ideal conditions here for a club to gradually become self-sustaining,” believes the long-time football official. Football agent Jozef Tokos agrees. “Investors (not just football-related) also look for political stability, which we have,” he says.

So far, however, foreign capital has only been truly successful in Trenčín. Apart from Trenčín, the only other clubs that have managed to at least break even or make a profit have been those owned by local Slovak businessmen, such as Artmedia Petržalka (Ivan Kmotrík), MŠK Žilina (Jozef Antošík), Spartak Trnava (Vladimír Poór), or Slovan Bratislava (Kmotrík again).

Systematic, long-term work with foreign investment has only occurred in Trenčín. In most other cases, it involved speculators who often left behind debts. Even in early 2021, several Slovak clubs such as Nitra, Sereď, or Pohronie were seeing interest from foreign investors. Will they manage something similar to what Tschen La Ling achieved in Trenčín, or will the traditional scenario repeat itself, as it did a few years ago in Zlaté Moravce? We spoke with representatives of clubs that illustrate what the entry of a foreign investor into Slovak football can look like. Player agent Jozef Tokos also shared his insights.

Slovakia is also starting to think more seriously about player development. MŠK Žilina has a top-tier academy, and DAC Dunajská Streda has built an even larger one—with help from the Hungarian government. Another advantage is that Slovakia is inexpensive. Rybníček claims that, compared to other countries, relatively low costs are enough here to break into European competitions. The level of competition in the Fortuna Liga is not that high.

“On the other hand, many think they can bring in two or three players and win the league,” says Martin Ondrejka, chairman of the board of FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce. He estimates that a minimum investment of two million euros is needed to reach the qualifying rounds of European competitions—though even that doesn’t guarantee success. “For example, in the Czech Republic, that amount certainly wouldn’t be enough,” he adds. Rybníček also points out that starting in the 2021/22 season, a third pan-European competition is being launched—another potential revenue stream. The UEFA Europa Conference League will rank third in the European hierarchy.

Besides Trenčín, MŠK Žilina has also managed to self-finance in recent years, without needing owner subsidies, thanks to the sale of players to Western European leagues. Slovan Bratislava and Spartak Trnava also experienced successful periods, mostly due to million-euro bonuses from reaching the group stages of the Europa League.

Player agent Jozef Tokos also highlights the positives of the Fortuna Liga. He says that, just like in general business, football investors are drawn to stable political environments. “And we have that—unlike, say, Belarus,” he notes. “We also don’t face regulatory issues from the Slovak Football Association or the League Club Union.” He also sees Slovakia’s EU membership as a plus. But what needs to happen to turn the league’s theoretical attractiveness into reality? “We need more positive examples like Trenčín,” says Tokos.

The Fortuna Liga is a competition that gives opportunities to young players,” says Tokos. According to the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), the Fortuna Liga currently has the fourth-youngest average squad age among all European leagues. The fact that promising young players in Slovakia often choose local clubs over foreign academies is shown by the examples of Milan Škriniar (Žilina) and Stanislav Lobotka (Trenčín), both of whom only moved abroad after making their mark in the Fortuna Liga.