Ovidiu Tender, ready to kick off in football business

Football is the most recent bet of the “wizard” Ovidiu Tender. Used to straighten out the troubled companies, Tender is heading towards a very sensitive area, in which the “fixed assets” are represented by the football players, and the profit might depend on a shot’s deflection.The idea that the businessman Ovidiu Tender to become major shareholder of the club FC Timisoara turned up during this autumn, and was based on a juridical-administrative scandal which had negative implications on sportive plan.Marian Iancu, the current majority shareholder, wants to draw back, as a result of the constant scandals which he has with the Romanian Football Federation (RFF).

Constantin Ostaficiuc, president of the County Council of Timis, resorted to Ovidiu Tender and that’s how the negotiations and plans started. The solution taken into account is the take over of the football club FC Timisoara by Intercenter Service, a joint company formed by the County Council Timis and Tender SA.

At the moment, Ovidiu Tender waits to be finalized the audit on the economical situation of the club, then following to be signed the documents.

A business like any other

On long-term, Ovidiu Tender looks at FC Timisoara as any other business, denying the title of “financer” adopted by other owners from the domestic football. “For me, FC Timisoara is a company”, Tender stated. In what concerns the investments, Tender says that he intends to spend as it is necessary for obtaining performance. Related to the business, the performance is the main condition for obtaining profit. One of the first two positions from the First League brings the participation into the UEFA Champions League, competition in which the annual revenues are on an average of 10 million euro. The sport performance generates also bigger revenues from sponsorships and more people on the stadium that means bigger returns.Tender stated for “Financiarul” that he wants to develop activities connected to the football games from the own field, similar to the “show” from the American soccer games. During the last years, the club from Timisoara, named either “Poli” or FC, had one of the best audience average on their own field. Ovidiu Tender says that he won’t interfere in the technical problems of the team, following to bring a team of “football experts”.

Juridical difficulties

At the moment, the most difficult problem of the club from Banat is administrative – recovering the name of “Poli”, of the colors white-violet and of the prize list. Last month, FC Timisoara was penalized with six points because it didn’t respect FIFA’s decision and it didn’t change the colors of the team. The decision was taken by the Court of Arbitration for Sport from Lausanne, Switzerland and was applied by RFF.The scandal started in the moment in which Claudio Zambon, an Italian businessman, has contested that the club of Marian Iancu to use the name “Poli” and the white-violet colors. Zambon sustains that he is the owner of the club which has inherited the traditional name and marks of the club from Timisoara.

Marian Iancu has used the name of “Poli” and the colors for the former club Rocar, which was transferred from Bucharest to Timisoara, several years ago. At the moment, FC Timisoara continues to belong to the former club Rocar, while the club of Zambon doesn’t active anymore in any competition. After the decision of the RFF, the club from the First League gave up to the violet color, after it had previously dropped also to the name of “Poli. Marian Iancu considers that he was treated wrong and announced that he draws back from football. So, it turned up the opportunity for Ovidiu Tender.The RFF decisions have generated protests on the streets from Timisoara, so that solving the problem of the prize list and of the marks represents an essential problem, especially for the local politicians. Claudio Zambon stated that he is open to negotiate with Tender, for selling him these assets.Ovidiu Tender has also established as first goal to recover the prize list and traditional marks.