Last year’s massive selloff of players made FC Anzhi Makhachkala Russia’s most profitable football club in '14, while other squads, including champion Zenit, were in the red. Anzhi's net profits amounted to 4.2B rubles ($69.7M), according to Russian accounting and analytical data base SPARKS. Anzhi Makhachkala General Dir Sergei Korablev told SBD Global, "We are always working on making FC Anzhi a profitable club." However, Anzhi's profits in '14 were primarily caused by a massive selloff of players, which began in the fall of '13, when owner Suleiman Kerimov revised its development strategy, and continued though the relegation at the end of the '13-14 season. In the wake of that decision, Anzhi's top players, including Cameroon int'l Samuel Eto'o and Morocco int'l Mbark Boussoufa and several local players, were sold.
CUTTING EXPENSES: Also, in '14, the squad dramatically cut its expenses from 10B rubles ($166M) to just 2M rubles ($33.2M), and although it was able to return to the Premier League, its budget is much more modest than those of the league's top clubs. Champion Zenit St. Petersburg, owned by Gazprom, posted losses of 5.2B rubles ($86.4M). Dinamo Moscow, which took fourth place in the '14-15 season but was banned from the Europa League for breaking financial fair play rules, posted losses of 2.55B rubles ($42.3M). Earlier this year, the club said its profits are set to increase as of '17. Meanwhile, Spartak Moscow, which took sixth place last season and has not won the league since '01, has been steadily in the black. In '14, the club posted profits of 560M rubles ($9.3M).
Vladimir Kozlov is a writer in Moscow.
