Food & Rent Now Top Priority For Red Star Belgrade

By: chris | April 13th, 2009

Despite the harshness of this economic crisis and hoards of players still awaiting wages their clubs simply can’t pay, we don’t typically think of professional athletes as being put out on the street. The savings from those fat contracts should be enough to weather the storm. But that’s not the case for former European champions Red Star Belgrade, some of whose players are now unable to pay for some of life’s most basic necessities, including food and water, forcing them to consider moving back in with mom and pops – bringing professional athletes closer to the hoi polloi than ever before.

Mirnes Sisic, midfielder and Slovenian international, moved to Red Star in January from Greek champions Olympiacos. But since then he hasn’t received any wages and may well be evicted from his apartment because he can’t pay rent.

“”The landlord came over earlier this week and told me to pay three months’ rent I owe him or pack my stuff and leave. If Red Star can’t at least give me money for a roof over my head, never mind what the club owes me in wages, I will have no choice but to go back to Slovenia and stay with my parents.

“I can’t believe a club of Red Star’s stature has allowed this to happen, it’s like the Titanic. Young players are in an even more humiliating position, as we give them daily handouts so that they can buy themselves some lunch and coffee.”

Even with the economic circumstances, a mind-boggling assessment of what the current global climate has done to one of Serbia and Eastern Europe’s biggest clubs – a pre-Champions League European champion, even. Young players becoming charities and senior players with a bit more stocked away turning philanthropists without a stream of income.

Valencia has sort of become the posterchild for financial issues amongst Europe’s bigger clubs – though certainly not if you count ManU’s debt against them – but we have yet to hear stories of players unable to pay for life’s basics. Red Star, a club of 25 domestic titles, surely trumps their plight by some stretch – especially now that Valencia was given a loan to sign the checks and continue construction on their new stadium, internally nicknamed in an aura of hope The Money Tree.

And all this being reported days after Red Star lose the derby to eventual champions Partizan and find themselves in hot water after their fans set their cross-town rival’s stadium on fire. Like many others weathering this economic storm, it sounds like this will be a year everyone on the red side of Belgrade will want to forget.