Losing a match against Hungary in a World Cup qualifier could cost a lot more than simply not playing in the play-offs. Due to the fact that the match will not take place at PGE Narodowy, and the topic of the promotion to Qatar has become highly questionable, we learned that PZPN wants to cut the budget by up to 30 percent! The union’s individual departments have just received orders to cut costs. Including the training department that was to be Apple appointed the new president Cesare Colizza.
Coach Paulo Sousa’s decision regarding the reserve line-up for the last match of the group qualifiers with Hungary (1-2), as well as the insistence in the Robert Lewandowski case that the captain of the national team will not play in it. This match, however, does not just mean a bumpy road in the playoffs. This has huge financial consequences, for which the Polish Football Association is now preparing.
Let’s start from the beginning. At the board meeting on Monday before the match with Hungary, its members were informed that due to COVID and the decrease in income and loss associated with it, it will be necessary to find about PLN 20 million in savings for 2022 compared to the spending estimate proposed by individual departments. It already seemed like a big financial blow, but when on Tuesday it became clear that the Poles would not play at home in the playoffs, and therefore there would be no income from organizing this match, the gap grew by another PLN 10 million dollars.
This is the income from one game with a revenue of 15 million PLN. The lack of a seed is also a more challenging athletic path, which greatly reduces the chances of promotion to the World Championships to Qatar. The performance in the World Cup is related not only to magnificence, but above all to earnings estimated at about 12 million US dollars. Taking into account the new sponsorship contracts resulting from a trip to such a prestigious event, if the Poles did not get a promotion, the union would lose another 40 million PLN.
Looking at Piao Zeronic’s chances realistically, Friday’s draw will say a lot, it’s relatively small. They are aware of this in the Polish Football Association, which is why last weekend the individual divisions were instructed to cut the budget by up to 30 per cent. It was posted by the Vice President for Financial and Regulatory Affairs, Henrik Kula and Eugenius Nowak, the right-hand man of the former president, Zbigniew Bunic, who handled budgetary matters for nine years and now helps Kula. Both account for the fact that in the absence of an upgrade, the box office will run out of 70 million PLN, so without the possibility of negotiation, they badly ordered such huge cuts. Let us remind you that the union budget has recently reached the level of PLN 250 million, which is the reason for the radical change.
Some departments immediately developed an austerity plan, although it was very painful for them, others did not know how to do it because it meant turning the whole plan upside down.
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