Russian website Sport-business-gazeta.ru has announced that Samotlor will not be able to travel to Kemerovo for its Russian SuperLeague 17th round match-up against Kuzbass on January 6 due to lack of funds. According to tournament regulations, Samotlor will be credited with a technical 3-0 defeat. Here is what team president Alexei Berezin had to say about the matter:
Unfortunately, we did not have the opportunity to buy plane tickets in advance. When the money appeared, it became clear that due to the New Year’s excitement there were no tickets for the plane to Novosibirsk, from where we usually get to Kemerovo by bus. And getting by transit through Moscow is an incredible amount of money for us. We have a difficult financial situation, many debts. We apologize to Kuzbass, the Russian Volleyball Federation and the fans.
Kuzbass currently sits in 8th place of league standings, while Samotlor is fighting against relegation in 14th place. Ironically, this situation is coming to light weeks after Russian Volleyball Federation President Stanislav Shevchenko boasted about how the Russian League was the strongest volleyball league in the world.
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Travel related financial problems are not uncommon in the volleyball world. Only last week, Dutch Club Orion announced it had no money to cover its travel expenses to Siberia for its Round of 8 CEV Challenger Cup match.
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