However, although the investors now have the final say in the club, there is still quite a lot of confusion.

Where is the club headed? Has it really fallen prey to financial machinations of the so-called foreign investors? There are few known facts. At an extraordinary assembly, the club was informed about the arrival of investors from Ukraine, but there has been no concrete information apart from the name of their representative in the steering committee, Igor Dedišin.

We tried to find some answers about the sources and amounts of financing. The club’s president Stevan Đorđević and sports director Spasoje Bulajić, who had initiated the cooperation with Ukraine, were not available for comments. We were told a press conference would take place soon. A vague explanation had also been posted on the club’s website in November.

That is why we’ve turned to other sources, who suggest that the investors, who had also planned to invest in Velenje, have so far not invested a single euro into Celje’s football club. What is more – they’ve only increased the financial burden. Namely, the salaries for football players cost the club about 30,000 euros per month last season, but with this season’s additional players this amount has only increased. Despite information about late payments, the players tell a different story. “As far as that is concerned, everything is settled. We, the players, have no complaints,” claims Matej Podlogar.

Critics of the club’s current direction would like to see more young players from the club’s own football school. Robert Pevnik had very successfully trained the young but was replaced by Igor Jovičević.We asked Pevnik for a statement but after a few days of correspondence, he also declined to make a comment.

Simon Šparavec, TV Slovenija; translated by K. Z.