The financial problems of the club have seen it lose its competition license.
RNK Split, the second club in the City of Split seemed to be made up of all the ingredients of a great story at one time, however, on May 23, 2017, the fairytale story came to its sad end.
The club was taken over by the Žužul brothers a while back when the team competed in the lowest tier of Croatian football. The fresh money from the local tycoons got them to the First Croatian Football League, and they even qualified to the Europa League a couple of times.
The media pundits praised the RNK Split management at the time, although some news came about the dubious financial situation in the club. Quite a few players decided to leave the club, and brought their case to the court, claiming their paychecks there.
The licensing committee of the Croatian Football Federation found the RNK Split application for the league license invalid, and the club was denied the permission to compete in the top tier of Croatian football in the next season.
The team was preparing for the last round of the season, hoping to avoid relegation, but with this news, the last match of the season will surely be the last one for them in the First League.
As if all this wasn’t enough negativity, the club has even been denied the license for the Second League, so the very future of the club is now in doubt.
The privatisation of football clubs is often claimed to be the only way for them to survive, but with this example (and many more in the past), it is clear that the main issue is not the ownership structure, but the management and the sustainability of the clubs.
This issue was brought up on many occasions by the Football Players Syndicate, and by some supporters’ associations, but the Football Federation has done little to help the clubs in the past.
Maybe this event will urge the authorities to finally sort out the problems that exist in the Croatian Football Federation.
