Mixu Paatelainen received a large salary

Helsinki IFK, which plays in the Veikkausliiga, announced its emergency call last week.

Chairman of HIFK Fotboll Ab Heikki Pajunen said the club urgently needs money to play in the league this season.

The sums are tough: € 140,000 as soon as possible, before July. The need for the rest of the year is half a million euros.

HIFK’s financial difficulties came as no surprise. This is the third time the football side of the club is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Instead, many – including HIFK supporters – wondered how the club, which had gained a new group of investors, was already in such bad shape in the middle of the summer that the end of the whole season was at stake.

According to Iltalehti, HIFK has been boiling behind the scenes. Some of the members sitting on the board left the season with unrealistic expectations. He has stepped on the toes of others. Among other things, the player budget seems to be bouncing more than planned.

How has this been arrived at once again?

“We didn’t have to put that amount in”

Until a moment ago, the future of HIFK looked brighter. In November 2020, disagreements began between the HIFK Soccer rf association and the Chinese owner Lucas Jin Changin with.

Chang was discharged, and HIFK’s league seat was transferred from the limited company to the association last season. The field went on when the team finished sixth. The ranking was better than expected.

With the advent of winter, HIFK’s backing company acquired a new main owner when Stadin Tähdet Oy Ab acquired a majority stake in HIFK Fotboll Ab.

The former Veikkausliiga judge became the chairman of the new board and the leading figure in the Finnish investor group Heikki Pajunen. Among the investors were also Janne Räsänen, Mirka Lod, Heikki Lehmuskoski, Jan Holst as well as other smaller investors.

In addition to Pajunen, Räsänen and Lehmuskoski, they joined the company’s Board of Directors Peter Standertskjöld-Nordenstam, Jan Walden and Sami Verno.

Pajunen says that the club was ripe for bankruptcy last winter.

– We knew that 1.5 million euros would be needed for the league season. We had no idea that we could put that amount together without partners and audience revenue. We survived the sudden situation, Pajunen opens.

The workload was huge even on the athletic side. In the winter, HIFK finally got a new coaching team. Portuguese head coach Bernardo Tavaresin at the time the contract was announced, the league team had only a handful of player contracts for the season to begin.

Players were acquired from here and there. There were also nominees, including a former Portuguese national team goalkeeper Beto and a former Owl Attacker Eero Markkanen.

HIFK’s management set tough goals: the team once again wanted to be in the top six, in the upper end of the series.

Objectively, it seemed oversized, as the team’s true level was a complete mystery still on the eve of the season.

The coach changed

After two rounds of the Veikkausliiga, head coach Tavares packed his bags and left the capital. He pleaded for serious family reasons.

Still, just a moment later, Tavares made a new coaching contract with Indonesia.

A new head coach recruitment was launched again. According to IL’s information, HIFK already had an Italian coach who had previously coached in Finland. Fabrizio Piccareta.

Then Walden stepped into the picture. He wanted to Mixu Paatelainen as the new head coach. The former Finnish national team coach was a well-known recruiter, which was believed to arouse the interest of the partners, among other things.

Coaching skills were not an issue, pay was instead. According to IL’s data, Paatelainen’s 2 + 1-year contract was financially absurd. Paatelainen was wanted, even though the financial problems were known to everyone.

– Well, it’s always about the whole thing. About the options available, their prices and price differences. In addition, it is a question of what kind of media visibility Mixu Paatelainen has. However, he is the most famous head coach in the Veikkausliiga.

– Of course, it was also about faith in the results and thus interest in the eyes of the public. In this whole situation, Mixu’s salary is not the deciding factor. In any case, we need much bigger partnerships, Pajunen comments.

According to sources, at the time of Paatelainen’s hiring, it was clear that the player budget of about 500,000 euros announced by HIFK at the beginning of the season would clearly exceed.

– At the moment, it seems that the budget we have announced will be adhered to, Pajunen replies.

The brand alone did not sell

HIFK’s result for the last financial year was a loss of EUR 536,881. In 2018–2020, HIFK’s backing company made a total of approximately EUR 1.3 million in cod.

The war in Ukraine could not be predicted to start in the early winter. According to Pajunen, the attack launched by Russia has significantly hampered the investor group’s own transactions.

However, sources say that HIFK’s current board has also taken on an operational role during the past spring. In the past, partnerships were no longer trusted. Coaching and sports management choices were addressed.

It was assumed that the money would come through the HIFK brand and individual well-known stars.

This has not happened. The audience has not found any games.

– It cannot be said that the difficulty of raising money surprised anyone. The situation is not easy for anyone in Finnish club football. Everyone knew that wrapping their sleeves and doing the work was done – and it has been done.

Did the investors run out of money? Apparently, or at least Pajunen can no longer give of his own. However, those close to HIFK are wondering whether all the investors who have joined are committed to investing in the project as expected.

Again, rescue money is needed from supporters.

– We are supporters too, so it is a bit of a special expression in that sense. We are supporters who have put a little more money into it. The club exists because it is important to some people. Each puts money according to what they have done in front of it.

Juniors left

The junior side of HIFK has been in a weak position for years. The league team has not had any young puppies of its own, which would give the club significant money in its cash.

However, efforts have been made in recent years. Already browsing the homepage, it turns out that HIFK has several junior teams, the players of the oldest age group get men’s games in the Third.

During the current season, however, there has been a situation where more young players are wondering whether there is a real player path to the league at HIFK. Players have gone elsewhere when they have experienced that the collaboration between the league team and the juniors is not working.

IL is told that the sports executive Mika Lönnström the handprint was very positive in the cooperation between the representative and junior teams. Lönnström has not been involved in the club’s activities since mid-April.

Functioning and successful academy requires long-term work. If it is left to train, we will quickly return to the starting point.

Is there a savior?

Pajunen admits that HIFK is now on sale. However, he emphasizes that the original plan of the investor group was to get “new people” involved after the first bankruptcy trick.

– If the buyer has stronger shoulders than we have, then HIFK is for sale. We want to be committed. If there is a party that is financially committed but wants our team to continue to operate, then that is an even more likely direction.

– We do not have to own a football club, the chairman says.

According to Pajunen, discussions with third parties have taken place since November.

So what is the critical point at which HIFK would have to skip the whole game?

– It’s a question of speculation. If we couldn’t pay wages, it would probably be one of them. Now it looks like we will be able to pay at least the June wages.

The support that came after the distress call has turned the course better, at least momentarily. Pajunen emphasizes that if euros fall into the cash register at the same pace, HIFK can be saved.

– But it’s not over yet. If the pace and enthusiasm continues in the same way, it will turn around.

Another thing is whether HIFK will still survive in the Veikkausliiga. At the moment, it’s the jumbo of the whole series.