Chinese investment leads oldest Czech soccer team to championship
Team with 125-year history and recent debt revives glory
PRAGUE — When an old football team of the Czech Republic, which nearly went bankrupt two years ago, revitalized and won a championship this year with the help of Chinese investment, there was a big sensation. When the last whistle blew in the final round of the Czech First Football League, the team Slavia Prague defeated the team Zbrojovka Brno with a score of four to zero, the stadium burst into cheers and the football fans cried tears of joy.
The victory not only declared that Slavia won the championship in the Czech Liga, but also meant that the oldest soccer team with a 125-year history finally revived its glories.
Only two years ago, a dark cloud hung over the Slavia Prague football club, when it was on the edge of bankruptcy due to heavy debt.
In order to solve its funding problem, the club contacted many investors, but failed to reach any agreement. In September 2015, when the final round of the league was about to finish, the club announced that it was going through bankruptcy proceedings, which made thousands of fans heartbroken.
Established in 1892, the Slavia Prague football club has been one of the oldest football clubs in Europe, serving as a national brand for the Czech Republic.
In 2009, however, the team fell into a serious economic crisis when it won the championship in the Czech Liga that year.
In September 2015, during Czech President Milos Zeman’s visit to China, the situation of the Slavia Prague football club was discussed. Having learned the details, Ye Jianming, chairman of Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy Company Ltd, made a decision within two days to purchase the club.
The purchase saved the brand of Slavia and won the hearts of millions of Czech people who were relieved to see the team back on feet.
The investment, seen by others as an unprofitable deal, was in Ye’s eyes a non profit project. It resonated with the corporate culture of CEFC — helping others succeed is the greatest success.
The action built a strong credit and reputation for CEFC and other Chinese companies residing in the Czech Republic. Through building close connections with the Czech people, it echoed the aim of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is to promote trade, financial integration, infrastructure inter-connectivity and people-to-people exchanges along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes linking Asia with Europe and Africa.
The football team’s feedback is far beyond the original investment purpose of the CEFC. The company has become a well-known enterprise in the Czech Republic and won the Czech people’s respect for Chinese brands.
The CEFC helped the club pay off the debts, and further invested in and supported the re-establishment of the club. It spent large sums of money to keep a famous Czech forward Milan Skoda to stay, and invited Dutch forward Karol Kisel and a senior coach Jaroslav Silhavy.
To bring new blood to the team, the CEFC was also the first in the country to launch a set of advanced player data selection system to analyze all data of European players, through which the team found Michael Ngadeu, one of the club’s best players now.
Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes, the club made its way to the top of the national football league. In May, Slavia finally won the trophy of the Czech Liga after eight years.
The club’s chairman, Jaroslav Tvrdik, expressed his gratitude to the CEFC at the victory party held for the championship of the league, saying “it saved Slavia”.
“CEFC is both the host and partner of Slavia. We very much cherish our relationship,” he said.
Besides the championship in the Liga, Slavia also won several other awards.
Slavia, with the highest attendance among all Czech clubs, attracts more and more people to see their games, including the Czech president, prime minister, chairman of the parliament, cabinet members and other officials, as well as people from all walks of life.
By investing in the Slavia Prague club, the CEFC has greatly promoted football experience exchanges between the two countries. The cooperation projects between China and the Czech Republic include football training, summer camps and tournaments.
Among them, the Slavia International Cup is one of the most successful events, and has been held twice with the participation of excellent teams from Europe and China. The first match was held in March last year when President Xi Jinping visited the Czech Republic.