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Zenit St. Petersburg, sponsored by , topped Russian football’s rich list with a 2010 budget of $99 million, 52 percent more than its nearest rival, Finans magazine said Monday.
Zenit, UEFA Cup winner in 2008, will match its 2009 budget as some clubs in Russia struggle to stay afloat, the magazine said, citing its own calculations. Zenit is owned by Gazprombank, Finans said.
Manchester United, the world’s most valuable club, had annual revenue of $512 million, Forbes magazine reported in April 2009, while Real Madrid, the second most valuable, had revenue of $576 million.
Of Russia’s eight richest clubs, only one, CSKA Moscow, increased its budget this year to $64.3 million from $49 million a year earlier as sponsors reined in spending or withdrew support, Finans said.
Zenit, which finished third in Russia’s Premier League last season, is trailed by ’s Moscow club Spartak with a budget of $65 million and Dynamo Moscow at $64.7 million, financed by Group and billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Metalloinvest.
Rubin Kazan, the Russian champion in 2008 and 2009 and backed by companies in the oil-rich Tatarstan region, was in sixth place with $55 million, according to Finans. The magazine based its budget estimates on publicly available data or information provided by club management.
Samara’s Krylia Sovetov club, backed by state-owned holding Russian Technologies and carmaker , shrank its budget by almost two-thirds to $12 million in 2010 and has strained to make debt and salary payments. Players have threatened to sit out the first game of the season and fans have gone on hunger strike to protest the club’s perilous finances, according to the club’s web site.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Feb. 17 ordered Sergei Chemezov, head of Russian Technologies, and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin to take all “necessary steps” to support the club. Krylia Sovetov needs between $20 million and $30 million to continue operating this year in addition to the funds required for making debt payments, Sechin said.
Twenty-two companies agreed to provide “long-term” financing to the team, including , and , Samara region Governor Vladimir Artyakov said Feb. 18, according to the local government web site.
