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Murmansk football in crisis

Game over for FC Sever.

FC Sever, the leading club in the Russian north, bankrupts and leaves the Russian Arctic capital without a team.

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The club, which for years has represented Murmansk in the second highest Russian league, has played its last match. The main sponsor of the club, the regional government, has turned down the club’s request for additional funding.

The club needed 35 million roubles to make it to the next season, but will get only 10 million from the regional government. In 2013, the club got 28 million from the governor, the Sever fan club informs at its website.

Sever ended the 2013 season on 5th June with a 1:0 victory over Spartak Kostroma. The club got the 7th place among the 17 teams in the western part of the Russian second division.

In a public protest against the , a group of local fans last week assembled in front of the downtown stadion, Bloger51 reports. They accused regional officials for neglecting the interest of football. FC Sever has both a professional elite team and numerous children and youth groups.

Commenting on the collapse, club press spokesman Anton Sklyarov says in a interview with TV21 that Sever has performed well in the second Russian division and that the club has found its place in the national league. Over the years, several top players have been recruited in the club structures. ”We still have a role to play”, the club representatives underline.

Sever was founded in 1961 and has in several periods been in the second national league. Since 2009, the club has had stable results in the league and major investments have been made in local club and stadion facilities.