Sports
Serie A Champions Under Threat Over Debt
Inter Milan could change hands days after being crowned Italian champions as yesterday’s deadline for a near 400 million-euro debt repayment reared into view.
Simone Inzaghi’s Inter team held aloft the Serie A trophy after Sunday’s meaningless 1-1 draw with Lazio having already secured the league title with five matches to spare last month.
But a planned weekend of celebrations was overshadowed by the prospect of one of Europe’s biggest clubs being taken over by US investment fund Oaktree, who are waiting on 395 million euros ($429 million) from Inter’s Chinese owners Suning.
Suning borrowed 275 million euros at over 12 percent interest three years ago to pay staff and players as the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the finances of clubs across Europe.
Inter were put up as collateral against that debt and Oaktree could decide to claim control of the club when the debt matures, with a source familiar with the matter telling our source that Oaktree had not yet received a single euro.
Inter posted losses of 85 million euros in the 2022/23 season, following even heavier losses of 140 million euros and 245.6 million euros in the previous two seasons as stadiums were partially or fully closed due to the pandemic.
Last Saturday, Inter president Steven Zhang, the son of Suning founder Zhang Jindong, had claimed that Oaktree, who manage $192 billion in assets, were jeopardising the club’s financial stability with unspecified legal threats.
Zhang, who has not been to Italy over a year and lost a court case with China Construction Bank over personal debts of 320 million euros, claimed that Oaktree had been actively obstructing negotiations for full repayment.
He had been widely reported as negotiating a further 430 million euro loan with another US fund, Pimco, to pay off Oaktree.
But the source disclosed that no documents had been exchanged that suggest Suning had found either a credible buyer for Inter or a refinancing partner.
As a result, Inter are increasingly likely to end up in the hands of Oaktree in manner similar to the way another US fund, Elliott Management, took control of their local rivals AC Milan in 2018.
Elliott became Milan’s owners when Chinese businessman Li Yonghong was unable to repay a loan he had taken out when he bought the club from the late Silvio Berlusconi’s Fininvest the previous year.
An announcement was not expected on yesterday, but if repayment is not made and Oaktree decide to take control of Inter, the source said, the takeover process will not be lengthy.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor
