A dream career? In Parma, a nightmare

Zdroj: Economic Daily, Vladimir Travnicek

Slovak goalkeeper Pavol Bajza landed a lucrative spot in Italy. Today, his club is on the brink of bankruptcy

Talented Slovak goalkeeper Pavol Bajza fulfilled his dream. From second-division Dubnica, he moved to one of Europe’s top leagues — signing a three-year contract with leading club FC Parma. “It’s a big step to go from Slovakia abroad, especially to Italy’s top league,” said the 20-year-old goalkeeper at the time.
The Italian team, which in the 1990s ranked among the best clubs in Europe, is now on the verge of bankruptcy. According to Italian media, its debts have grown to over one hundred million euros. The club’s players, including two young Slovaks — Bajza and Lukas Haraslin — have not received their wages for five months. “It was exceptional to join such a club as Parma. But the current situation is like a bad dream,” the former U21 national goalkeeper told the Economic Daily.

The two-time UEFA Cup winner and three-time Italian Cup champion has fallen victim to a peculiar transfer policy. Former owner Tommaso Ghirardi’s strategy was to acquire more than a hundred young players in hopes of later selling them for a profit. These plans failed, and the club gradually stopped meeting its obligations toward the players. “The final breaking point came before this season when we didn’t get a license to participate in Europe’s second-tier competition — the Europa League. Some players left, and the owner then sold the club,” Bajza explained.Ghirardi’s majority stake in the sinking club was bought for one euro by Cyprus-based Dastraso Holding. But just a few months later, there was another ownership change when businessman Giampietro Manenti acquired Parma, also for one euro. “This season, we’ve already had our third club president. Each of them only had words, but no actions. We’ll see; Manenti keeps saying he has the money to pay the debts to players. But he’s been saying that for three weeks now, and our patience is running out,” said the Slovak goalkeeper, who played four matches for Parma in Serie A. He also made seven appearances during his autumn loan spell at second-division side Crotone.

Sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos also had an interesting experience with FC Parma’s management. As recently as last September, he arranged a training compensation for the Italian club. “It was a five-figure sum from England’s Blackburn for Fabio Nunes. Parma received the money, but it took them almost a month to pay us the agreed fee for the out-of-court settlement of the compensation,” said Tokos.

Even then, he found it strange that a matter normally resolved immediately — or within a day or two — took several weeks. “The club kept pushing its problems ahead, and they just kept piling up. For example, in England, you could never have a situation where a club can’t play a match because it doesn’t have the money to organize it. It damages the reputation of the league and Italian football as a whole,” added Jozef Tokos.