Hryhori Surkis is known in Ukraine and beyond its borders not only as an influential oligarch but also as a generous football sponsor. This year marks the seventh anniversary since the time he was elected as the President of the FC Dynamo. It took only several years for the football team to become a serious opponent for the number of celebrity clubs in the European Champions League.
The magazine "Expert" narrates an interview with Mr. Surkis.
There
were a great number of people who aspired to create a football club on a
European level. They invested large funds to accomplish the goal. Nevertheless,
no one has yet beaten the success of your club. What do you think are the
key factors that account for your achievements?First, we created the best living conditions for our players, so that they would not be concerned with the everyday problems. Our club also has one of the best sporting facilities in Europe. Having set up these conditions we want our players to care about nothing but football. In general, the list of the factors that contributed to our success is the long one.
It
looks like the club's transfer policy and the return of Valery Lobanovski
who was coaching other foreign teams, as two vital factors in the aforementioned
list.No matter how many funds were invested in the infrastructure and what has been done to provide the maximum players' motivation, we could not have done well without Coach Lobanovski. He hesitated for several years whether to accept the offered position, but as soon as the necessary basis was established and the right players were selected, Lobanovski agreed to take hold of the team in 1996.
The principle of our transfer policy is primarily to buy good players rather than sell them. There are about 120 of contract club members who either play for Dynamo or have been rented to the other clubs. We did not sell Shevchenko and Rebrov for the mere reason that the deal was too tempting to reject. First, we'd like our players to be motivated. Now the names of Shevchenko and Rebrov are incentives for every young Dynamo player.
I
can't help asking you one question. How come the foreign clubs paid several
times more for Shevchenko and Rebrov than for the best Russian players?There is a whole system of discounting price in the football market of the developed countries. Two and a half years have passed since the Milan vice-president Galliani offered DM 17 millions. It took 2,5 years for Shevchenko to become well known in Europe. About a dozen of the football clubs lined up with the great proposals. The price went up and in the long run Shevchenko was sold for $25 million.
It is also interesting to note the way Galliani of Milan once conducted the negotiations. Once being unable to meet me in Berlin, he offered to send his own jet to pick me up. I said that I could also send my jet to bring him over and save his money. Unfortunately, foreign managers do not fully understand whom they deal with. They believe that they can buy us with a personal jet, luxurious hotel room, restaurant, limo, nice beach etc. But we must not fall for that. We must respect ourselves.
The
estimate shows that during the last two years FC Dynamo's income amounted
to around $50 million. Does it mean that Ukrainian football became as lucrative
as it is in the West? We've earned even more than that. But it is too early to talk about profitability of this business in Ukraine or Russia. This is basically due to the low paying capability of the population. Besides, we can't count on huge profits from advertising that our counterparts plow in Europe. However, there was a little progress in the area as well. "Coca Cola" enterprise for the first time ever became the sponsor of the FC Dynamo in the European Champions League three years ago.
It is a pleasure to note that Dynamo seems to be in the mind of every conscious Ukrainian. Probably, 3/4 of the population is the ardent fan of our club.
What
leading football clubs do you keep up relations with? And what would you
like to borrow from their experience?I have some business correspondence with Milan, Arsenal, Bayer, and PSV Eyndhoven. I was surprised to find out that 50% of the Eyndhoven's budget is from Phillips, another 25% is provided by the municipal government, and 25% is left to the club itself. Moreover, these funds are tax-exempt. Today, people's deputy Surkis can't push though a draft bill on soft tax for Dynamo. Well, it is hard for the ordinary person to get.
Do
you have any plans as to improving or somehow restructuring the club?Presently, our FC Dynamo is a closed corporation with the central board and several commercial structures as founders. Perhaps, in the future the club will become a joint stock company. But I'd like to see our Ukrainian companies rather than foreign corporations to invest in the development of the national football.