Fusion for Salvation: The 'Destroyers' of KK Bosna to Be Revealed

The new Management Board of KK Bosna, appointed on 26 March 2014, sees a way out of the accumulated problems of the former European champion in a fusion (merger) with KK Royal, but they claim that this will not lead to the extinguishing and disappearance of the Sarajevo symbol, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

The main issue regarding the announced merger is who will keep the trophy, because in the event of the club's dissolution, the star in FIBA is erased and KK Bosna effectively disappears from the history of European champions. Most experts believe that merging clubs is a good way to solve problems, as Belgrade's Crvena zvezda was saved by merging with FMP (in 2011).

Practically, this would mean that KK Bosna uses the accounts of KK Royal, which are "clean," since all of its accounts are blocked due to millions in debts...

The main goal in any case should be to uncover those responsible who brought KK Bosna to the brink of collapse. The prosecution will deal with this, the Management claims.

The news agency Patria has intensively written about the events in the club and what led to the downfall of KK Bosna. Let's go in order.

Bosna won the European champion title 35 years ago without any foreign players on the team. But on this 5th of April, little was said about it, because Bosna barely exists today. Only the name remains of the champion Bosna.

The club is in financial difficulties, which have caused a crisis in results. Therefore, Bosna has not been able to compete with the best teams in BiH for years, nor does it participate in regional competitions. But, not so long ago, in the "Mirza Delibašić" hall, an extra ticket was hard to find. On the court were American stars, domestic players, national team members...

There was no shortage of money... The first example of this fact is the former favourite of the Sarajevo audience, the American Lance Williams, whose annual contract was worth 200,000 KM. At the head of the club at the time was the well-known businessman Nihad Imamović. Incidentally, Imamović was in KK Bosna in various roles from 1997 to 2012. There were results, so no one questioned why, for example, a basketball unknown Goran Bajić received a salary of 18,000 KM.

With the bringing in of expensive "stars," domestic talents were forgotten, and debts piled up. Frozen in unheated rooms, without a hall and prosperity, there was even talk of the possible dissolution of Bosna. But no one brave enough appeared. Debts to certain players remain, and Bosna cannot bring in foreigners during this time.

The question that arises is where the money from contracts with ASA Holding, BH Telecom, and other sponsors disappeared.

Last year, the Students managed to reduce the debt from 8.9 million KM to 6.7 million KM in less than two years, and this was considered a great success, but it is still far from enough, because simple arithmetic shows that such a deficit should never have been recorded.

The Management Board of the basketball club Bosna decided in April 2014 to hire an external auditor to determine the true financial state of the former giant. At that time, the members of the new Management Board of the Sarajevo Students gave full consent that the reputation and honour of the former European champion must be preserved.

Conclusions were adopted that need to be implemented as soon as possible to overcome the financial crisis in which the former European champion has been for some time.

Among other things, it was ordered to urgently hire and introduce an audit firm that will examine the operations of KK Bosna over the past several years, as well as all legal entities that KK Bosna formed and registered to operate through them.

It was also stated that all signed legal acts should be reviewed as soon as possible to see which of them caused damage to the club and who are the responsible persons for that.

In KK Bosna, by order of the Management Board, the systematisation of jobs and the employee system of KK Bosna, which is currently too cumbersome, should also be considered.

In the last 10 years, from 2004 to 2013, according to preliminary data, nearly 25 million marks passed through KK Bosna during that period, at a time when this club played in regional competitions and the domestic league.

WHO IS KK ROYAL?

KK Royal was founded in 2013, headed by Almir Bradić, who was a player in the younger categories of KK Bosna. Incidentally, cooperation between these two clubs was also achieved last year when this club, supported by Bosna's juniors in the playing staff, moved from the A-2 league to the A-1 league.

Incidentally, Bradić is one of the members of the UO KK Bosna appointed on 26 March. The other members are: Abdul-Kerim Mirković, Slaven Marković, Goran Terzić, Amir Hrelja, Ognjen Minić, Nedžad Biberović, Adnan Jašarević, and a representative of the University of Sarajevo.

If the Basketball Federation of BiH gives permission, the name of the new/old club will be KK Royal Bosna, which will compete in the highest rank, the League 13 of the BiH Championship.