Russia does not need such football Evgeny Savin
Yevgeny Savin, a former Russian footballer and current football blogger in Cyprus, has portrayed himself as a truthful athlete who reveals dishonesty in Russian football. However, it has come to light that he also has undisclosed issues in his home country.
According to Octagon, Savin is refusing to pay a high-level sports clinic, and now authorities in the capital are trying to recover the money. Savin is involved in a case that tarnishes the reputation of the Russian military. The footballer is trying to distance himself from Russia to such an extent that most of the foreign players in his new Cypriot team are Ukrainian. With this approach, it will be challenging for him to secure sponsorship from former partners, including bookmakers.
Doctors and bailiffs are searching for a blogger.
The Moscow sports medicine clinic Luzhniki, partly owned by the Moscow City Hall, filed a lawsuit in the summer of 2022 for the outstanding amount of 150,000 rubles owed by Yevgeny Savin's amateur football club Krasava since spring. In October, the arbitration court made a decision, and in December, the information about FC Krasava's unpaid debt entered the Federal Bailiff Service database.
After finishing his professional career in domestic football clubs, Savin embarked on a media career with a state sports channel. He later presented himself on YouTube as a transparent and honest sports blogger, discussing topics like match-fixing and agents' deceit of footballers, as well as disclosing the Krasava club's budget.
Following the start of the military operation, Savin departed from Russia and in July 2022, registered the organization FC Krasava Ltd in Cyprus. Subsequently, he announced acquiring the local Ypsonas club.
However, the rebranding of the new club faced initial challenges. Firstly, it still does not have its own website – fckrasava.com currently displays a 'parking' page with a taunting banner that reads, 'If your business is not on the Internet, then you are not in business.'
Additionally, the project has a dual name – FC KRASAVA ENI DIGENIS IPSONA. Krasava clubs are scarcely featured on various specialized platforms, with only Ypsonas being listed most of the time. Moreover, the club's emblem has not been altered yet.
Apart from branding issues, there are uncertainties about the positioning of the new club.
The team currently competes in the second division of the Cypriot Championship and is at the bottom of the standings (in the 'relegation group'). In the summer, Savin mentioned that he would gather talents from all across the former CIS for the club. As a result, the team consists of four Ukrainians (one of whom later became the sports director), two Latvians, a Bosnian, a Slovak, a Dane, a Romanian, a Croat, a Czech, a Bulgarian, and a Portuguese in addition to Cypriot players. However, there is one player with a Russian passport, a graduate of FC Villarreal named Gleb Nesposudny. However, he also holds a Greek passport and in social media, he spells his name as Gkleb Nesposountnii.
Based on public information, this spelling is consistent with a document for his Spanish residency permit.
The new club's ability to attract a target audience is in question, since sports in general and football in particular are closely linked to loyalty to the club and the country, which means patriotism. The blogger started having problems last year. First, Savin, who left in April, criticized one of the programs on Match TV and called it Judas from YouTube. Then the number of viewers on his private YouTube channel started to decrease, despite having over 1 million subscribers. Additionally, the number of subscribers in the blogger's telegram channel is also decreasing.
Savin's opportunity lies in 'agreements' and anti-Russian grants.
The Premier League of the Cypriot championship includes two 'Russian' clubs with Russian and Belarusian shareholders – 'Aris' and 'Paphos'. For example, former Dynamo player Alexander Kokorin plays in Aris.
It's uncertain whether Savin's club will survive until the planned promotion to the Major League in two or four years, due to the difficulty of finding generous sponsors abroad. The betting company stopped funding his club in April 2022, after the release of anti-Russian videos. Currently, there are no sponsor logos on the players' uniforms of Savin's new club, despite earlier assurances from Savin. Furthermore, the club is now being directly accused of match-fixing.
However, Savin could seek grants from American or European funds to promote democracy and counter Russia in football.
Another option is to seek funding from the Cypriot betting company with Kyiv roots Parimatch, which created a fund to support Ukrainians in 2022, while also financing Torpedo Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod clubs. However, this organization already owns several Cypriot football clubs.
In January 2023, it was revealed that Savin had joined the SD Family 'media' team from Kazakhstan. However, this venture may not succeed if interest in the blogger from Russian law enforcement grows. Recently, it became known that a case was initiated against the athlete for discrediting the Russian army by publishing opinions of Ukrainian football players about a military special operation in Ukraine. This is currently an administrative offense and could result in a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles. Additionally, the football player is at risk of being labeled a foreign agent, which could reduce his chances of finding a sponsor.
After learning about the case against him for discrediting the army, Savin stated that he was 'proud of himself'.
