The financial recovery of FC "Čelik" Zenica is strengthened by the emigrants of Zenica
This is not just another in a series of success stories that, thanks to the joint cooperation, the i-platform realizes with FC "Čelik" Zenica. This is a story about the symbol of a city, about unsurpassed love, about success and fall, and about gradually rising from the ashes again.
Club history
Football club "Čelik" was founded on June 16th, 1945. The first matches were played on the old Bilino polje, but in the 50's it moved to the Blatuša stadium, which was fondly remembered by older generations of fans.
In the early 70's, with the construction of the new Bilino polje, the Club returned to the place where it all began, and remained attached to the Zenica football temple to this day. The seventies were golden years for Čelik", because then the Club achieved its most notable results in the First Federal League of Yugoslavia, which was among the strongest European leagues. Twice in a row, the Club won the Mitropa / Central European Cup, the oldest European football competition, and was the first club from the former Yugoslavia to win the Rapan / Intertoto Cup group.
According to the official representatives of this Club, "Čelik" has played a large number of games since its inception, and so, during the seventeen seasons in the First Federal League of Yugoslavia, the "black and reds" played 574 games, the first entry into the First League occurred in the 1967/68 season, and the best result is the sixth position in the 1973/74 season. The last games in the First Federal League, Čelik played in the 1988/89 season.
Since the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Čelik" has consistently performed in the highest rank of the competition, and has won three titles and two cups.
The club name, which has been a synonym for "the boiling city of Bosnia and Herzegovina" for decades, is also interesting.
"Zenica is one of the largest industrial centers in this part of Europe, which is also symbolized by the Zenica Ironworks (Željezara), and in which steel is melted, which is where the name of our football club came from. By the way, Željezara has been one of the biggest club partners over the years, and it also played a significant role in achieving club results in the 1970s. "Throughout its history, 'Čelik' has been a typical workers' club, which was founded, led and made famous by the working class", explain the representatives of the Management Board of FC "Čelik" Zenica.
Momčilo Vujačić, Jasmin Hajduk, Alojz Renić, Josip Lalić, Mehmed Buza, Mujo Mujkić, Fadil Talić, Ibro Zukanović, Mato Gavran, Senad Brkić and others are certainly some of the greatest legends of this Club.
Reorganization of the Club
Although widely known, FC "Čelik" Zenica a few years ago found itself in big trouble, ie in multimillion debts, but also stagnant in the results. Therefore, "saving" the Club was a logical solution. Managing the Club through the "socios model" imposed itself as the only right one.
The Socios model is a way of governing the club based on transparency, voluntary membership and democratic decision-making of members on the principle of "one member - one vote". All adult members who are not in a conflict of interest, upon joining, become members of the Assembly, which is also the highest body of the Club organized according to the mentioned model. The Assembly meets at least once a year and it is the body that elects the Management and Supervisory Boards for a four-year term, who are accountable to the Assembly for their results. At the same time, according to the democratic principle of voting, the Assembly makes other important decisions for the Club, such as the adoption and change of the Statute, the report on the work of the Management and Supervisory Board, the financial report, etc.
The function of the elected Board of Directors is to manage the Club, represent the Club in business, manage its organization, conduct business and sports policy, select management, hire players, implement decisions of the Assembly and the Supervisory Board to which it is obliged to submit reports. At the same time, the Supervisory Board is the so-called "Extended arm of the Assembly" which oversees the work of the Board of Directors and management, and reports on the results to the members and the Assembly.
„It is believed that this model guarantees that the majority who love the Club makes decisions that are in its interest, which has proven to be a positive practice in Germany, Spain, Scandinavia, Portugal, and recently in our 'Čelik'", claim from the Club, and they add: “The Socios model has definitely achieved the desired results, and that is, above all, the depoliticization of the Club. Namely, the Club was finally torn from its political jaws, and the most important decisions within it are decided by the Assembly, which is open to all adult fans of 'Čelik'. The socios model is not expected to finance the club through membership, achieve sports results or repay debts, but to enable members to, in accordance with their own beliefs, make the best decisions for the club, choose those who will manage it, and be transparently informed. business and sports results, which is undoubtedly a socios model and enabled in our club. "
A long term process
"After conducting an internal financial audit based on the harmonization of financial obligations with creditors, it was determined that, after the City of Zenica took over the financing of debt rescheduling to the FBiH Tax Administration, write-off of interest to the FBiH Police Administration, obsolete debts, posting part of claims from creditors "Renounced", the club has to pay between 1.2 and 1.5 million BAM of debts to tax institutions and suppliers, depending on the amount of active litigation and how much creditors will be willing to forgive interest or part of their claims, "they explain representatives of the Club.
According to them, the biggest weight in the stabilization process is the large number of club creditors, but also the fact that the Board of Directors at this time can not reach an agreement with all of them or to fulfill due obligations to all.
Our interlocutors also point out that the situation would be much more favorable if the Club had ten creditors with whom it could sign reprograms and regularly perform agreed obligations, and in return receive the removal of blockades from club accounts, but the number of creditors is ten times higher.
"The most successful contribution to the successful recovery process was the decision of the Assembly to continue competing in the not so financially demanding, lowest rank of BiH football Cantonal League, which enables a significant difference between revenues and expenditures, and which focuses on debt repayment. Such a policy would definitely not be possible if the club continued to compete in the financially very challenging 1st league of FBiH, in which it is questionable whether, due to account blockages, it would be possible to service current liabilities, let alone repay debts".
Future plans
At the moment, they are actively working on reorganizing the youth school, educating coaches, improving conditions for youth students, and the project of creating a training camp, and in that way the Club would finally get its own training ground, which is also the biggest drawback in youth school. In addition, in the near future, the Club will organize tournaments in primary schools, which are expected to popularize their own youth drive.
However, the priority for "Robijaši", "Čelik's" loyal fans is the senior team, which, unfortunately, considering the rank of the competition, is not attractive to promising players. Therefore, these players are looking for engagement abroad or in clubs in higher ranks of Bosnian football in which they can achieve better conditions for themselves.
"Due to the strategy of initially organizational, then financial and only then sports recovery, the senior team will certainly not gather the best players in the city and the country for some time, but we firmly believe that in a few years we will be in a situation where, after financial consolidation, we will actively work on sports step forward ", claim the representatives of FC" Čelik "Zenica.
In order for this to come to life, it is necessary, first of all, to unblock the accounts, which in the future will require animating sponsors and donors in order to achieve the greatest possible difference between current revenues and expenditures, so that it can be focused on debts. At the same time, work will be done on negotiations with creditors with the aim of reaching the best possible agreements that the Club can honor. Also, the Club claims that they are actively working on improving the implementation of internal processes, modernization of the Club, restoring the trust of the local community and business entities, popularization of membership and students of the youth school.
Many "Čelik" sympathizers today are BiH emigrants
The cooperation between the i-platform and FC "Čelik" Zenica, ie the recently signed Memorandum of Mutual Cooperation, is the right way to animate the Zenica diaspora, which is mostly made up of "Čelik" supporters and fans.
Although until recently they did not have the opportunity to help their beloved Club, the current practice allows them to directly empower the Club. "The fact that our fans can hardly wait to help 'Čelik' is also shown by the fact that the Club launched the '12th action player' with the aim of collecting funds from voluntary individuals and legal entities, which would allocate 100,00 BAM per month.
After a few months, the action gathers 43 people, and 30 of them are from abroad. They will help the club directly with 68,500 BAM per year! In addition, in just eight hours of online membership, the club's address received over 50 applications for membership, mostly from people from abroad, which speaks volumes about their willingness to help and engage in the recovery process of 'Čelik' ", conclude our interlocutors.
Cooperation with the i-platform is also an action that will enable people who are not in BiH what is actually a prerequisite for the success of this project, and that is that every fan contributes to the recovery of the Club, feels part of it and is an important wheel in recovery and the stabilization of Čelik. "Čelik's" leaders warn the fans that they are facing a long process of recovery of the Club, but they also, for the sake of true love, call on them for patience and faith in the path they have all chosen together.
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