‘Humble’, ’emotional’, ‘meddlesome’, ‘absent’, ‘involved’, ‘a mind’. Numerous contradictory characteristics are attached to Valeri Oyf, owner of Vitesse since 25 May 2018. Even his roots are not unambiguous. He is a Russian citizen, but born in Ukraine, the country under attack by the Russians. 58-year-old Oyf mostly served Russian companies, he has powerful Russian relations, but remains silent. Not just the last few weeks, but also the years before that.
Oyf is vital for Vitesse, he guarantees the financial shortfalls. Those are hefty almost every year since Vitesse first got a foreign owner in 2010 with the Georgian businessman Merab Zjordania. The national title was the goal, but it has become, in fits and starts, a permanent stay in the sub-top.
Will Oyf stay? And will the oligarch remain wealthy? Oyf is not on the list of Russians to be sanctioned. He is linked to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who is once again characterized as an old confidante of Russian President Putin. Abramovich has put the English top club up for sale. Vitesse has had close ties with Chelsea through the owners for twelve years.
Half-hearted call for peace
After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Vitesse released a statement that the club is “financially stable” and “at the moment does not foresee any significant consequences”. It has been deafeningly quiet ever since, except for a somewhat half-hearted call for peace. According to the Gelderlander there is unrest in the offices about the future. If Oyf drops out and no one is found who can hold up the big yellow-black pants, a significant reduction in the budget is inevitable.
How loyal and committed is Oyf to Vitesse, where there is always something going on, in a positive and negative sense? Tonight the club will play in the eighth finals of the Conference League against AS Roma. Never before has the club that turns 130 this year overwintered in Europe. But it does take place in a stadium that is too big and (therefore) too expensive and where a number of supporters misbehave in such a way that the duel with Sparta had to be discontinued last Friday.
It is not possible to speak to Oyf, the daily management and other employees at Vitesse also refuse to comment. Former employees who spoke to this newspaper are mainly ‘very curious’. Because they really have no idea what is going on in the Russians, despite long-term employment.
The heart in the right place
Former player, head of scouting and technical director of Vitesse Marc van Hintum calls him ‘a very modest man’. ‘Not at all the bling bling that you often see with other rich club owners. He often walked around in faded jeans and a T-shirt, was very humble, kind, heart in the right place.’
Although only involved with Vitesse since 2016, first as a commissioner, then as the successor of compatriot Aleksandr Tsjigirinski, who had again succeeded Zjordania, he came across to Van Hintum as a ‘real supporter’. Chigirinsky never saw or heard you. He let the people on the shop floor do their thing and that went quite well.’
Vitesse won the cup final in 2017, but Chigiirinski was not even there. Oyf was there. ‘Oh, he could be really emotional during matches. I think that’s nice, although it doesn’t always benefit policy.’
It is known that Oyf liked to interfere in technical policy. Van Hintum: ‘I said: this is my area, you should stay away from it. Although I think it is very logical that you, as an owner, want influence. It’s his club. It never got unfriendly either.’
Emotional
Oyf’s expectations are high, explains Hakim Slimani, agent of technical director Mohammed Allach and trainer Henk Fraser. Despite a successful period, Allach and Fraser had to disappear from the Arnhem stage. Slimani: ‘If Vitesse was sixth or seventh, it wasn’t good enough. Then you felt the pressure that it should actually be top 3, 4. He was emotional about it.’
Not that Slimani heard that personally from Oyf. ‘I never spoke to him. He was a bit of a ghost, you always heard his name but never saw him. He is obviously busy with his businesses. That he still wanted to determine is very normal in the football world. That happens everywhere. Mohammed and Henk are strong personalities, also have a strong bond with each other. Then you know that things can clash quickly, even if Vitesse won the cup among them, the only prize in history. That’s just how it works.’
Van Hintum also flew out more than two years ago. “I had a different course in mind. If you have a foreign owner and you work with a foreign club, Chelsea, then it is important for your identity to have Dutch players and culture guardians. If they want something else then it makes sense that they say goodbye to you.’
Van Hintum now works as a scout at the first divisionist VVV. A conscious step. ‘I worked for a total of fifteen years at Vitesse, a wonderful club, but it is not often quiet there. They don’t call it it for nothing FC Hollywood on the Rhine.†
Since the Russians came, there is more and more talk about Kremlin on the Rhine† Worn by some fans as a badge of honor, but now a burden of lead.
KNSB keeps sponsor with Russian link
Since last autumn, Holland & Barrett has been the main sponsor of the KNSB skating association. The originally English drugstore chain is part of a conglomerate called LetterOne. Its co-owners are the oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven, who have been on the EU’s sanctions list since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Unlike rich Russians who own a football club, there are quite a few layers between Fridman and Aven and the skating association.
The KNSB has a sponsorship agreement with the Dutch Holland & Barrett BV, which also has Dutch L1 Retail as its sole shareholder. Above that is LetterOne, officially a European company. None of the companies involved has been affected by the sanctions, the KNSB reports in a statement. ‘The KNSB is satisfied with this explanation and will continue the sponsor relationship with Holland & Barrett.’
Fridman and Aven have stepped down from LetterOne’s board members and their shares in the company have been frozen.