Hot: SLNA leaders officially inform about sponsorship issue

Since 2009, SLNA has been completely transferred by the People's Committee of Nghe An province to Bac A Bank, in accordance with the regulations of professional football. At the end of V.League 2018, the province's wish is for SLNA to have a breakthrough and retain its key players.

Recently, SLNA has negotiated with a new economic unit with a representative in Hanoi, the sponsorship package is promised to be 60-65 billion VND/year, but this unit is not just a sponsor, but requires the establishment of a separate company, owning all of SLNA's assets, including youth training.

As V.League 2019 is approaching, the official sponsorship contract has not been signed yet, the Nghe An team is still preparing for the new season in a cautious manner. Up to now, it can be affirmed that all negotiation efforts have collapsed at the last minute. Especially when the sponsorship amount is reduced to 50 billion VND/year, the remaining 10 billion is forced SLNA to seek from business sources.

SLNA still has no operating budget for V.League 2019 while the registration deadline is near (February 8). Photo: Archive

Regarding the sponsorship negotiation process, General Director Nguyen Hong Thanh shared with Nghe An Newspaper: “The sponsor, SLNA and the Provincial People's Committee have not agreed on some points, so the contract cannot be signed. Only when the contract is signed, the entire team must be handed over to them, then they will be responsible to SLNA. In the worst case, the Provincial People's Committee and Bac A Bank will have a solution. Up to now, because there is no sponsorship source, SLNA has not been able to sign contracts with foreign players.”

If SLNA is completely transferred to another enterprise, but without a specific development roadmap and commitment, the future, identity and tradition of SLNA are difficult to predict. Especially the youth training, which is the pride and backbone of Nghe An football.

According to a private source of Nghe An Newspaper, for youth training, each year it takes 25-30 billion VND to nurture nearly 300 young athletes. The Provincial People's Committee will cooperate with a number of businesses to maintain it.

For SLNA's first team, the minimum budget is 30 billion VND/season as in previous years, and Bac A Bank is willing to continue to provide sponsorship. Some generous donors who love SLNA are also willing to join hands to help the team have enough funding to participate in V.League 2019 before finding a new direction./.

According to the regulations and charter of the North Asia Bank in 2018, all young players and professional players of SLNA will receive a Tet bonus of 13th month salary. Before returning home for the 2019 Lunar New Year holiday, all players were promptly approved by the sponsor, so they can rest assured to return home for Tet. The January 2019 salary of the SLNA first team players is still pending because there is no new sponsor.

Coach Duc Thang: "SLNA needs truly dedicated sponsors"

(Baonghean.vn) - Fans of Nghe An, players and head coach of SLNA are very worried because V.League 2019 is approaching but the new sponsor has not officially signed a contract and transferred money to the team.