The management of the SFC Opava lasted only half a year to resist the influence of the former vice-chairman of the FACR, Roman Berbr. Two years ago, director Petr Machovský and his people faced pressure from all sides: from the FACR management, the judges, some of the club’s employees, some of the fans and the cabin, led by Pavel Zavadil. As the police wiretaps available to Aktuálně.cz show, everything was organized by official Miroslav Ozaniak.
“I would like to be heard by you,” Ozaniak said in one of the intercepted calls at the end of May 2019, then vice-president of the football association Roman Berbr. They are familiar with “brother”. Why is he calling a high-ranking official? Petr Machovský was to become the new director of SFC Opava at the time, who publicly criticized Berbra and rejected the behind-the-scenes practices. Among other things, influencing the matches through the referees, due to which the police carried out a raid last year, which resulted in Berbr’s arrest.
The football club in Opava is specific to Czech conditions. The local SFC is a joint-stock company, managed since 2005 by the Statutory City of Opava. From the position of the majority owner, the town hall runs the club and annually invests approximately 17 million crowns in it – the greater part for the youth, the rest for the administration of the stadium and property.
Ozaniak is a minority co-owner, holding one share in the joint-stock company, ie 0.4 percent of the club. When he calls Berbr in an intercepted call, he fears that he will lose influence over the club when Machovský takes over. “I will thank you for everything you have done for us here. Let no one connect me with Opava, Jarda Rovňan will tell you everything,” he adds.
Rovňan was then, and still is, the technical director of the club. Other allies in the club were experienced midfielder and later sports director Pavel Zavadil or former player and now club secretary Lumír Sedláček. Ozaniak himself talked about this in an interview for the Moravian-Silesian daily.
As the Berbra audience turned out, it can only be inferred from the accessible materials. According to the investigators, Ozaniak should have stated that “Opava will now wonder what will happen.”
The police are investigating the variant that Berbr subsequently instructed the referees to be biased against the club and to whistle in favor of their opponents. Other wiretaps suggest this.
“Silesia is the main enemy, the main one, isn’t it? The main one. Strictly by the rules, right? Hi.” It was written on August 15, 2019 and Berbr called the referee Pavel Rejžek, who was to whistle the duel of Opava with Zlín two days later. The South Moravians won 3: 0 and the young judge reported to Berbr the result in an SMS message that evening.
Berbr has long argued that he had nothing to do with the referees, and denied any behind-the-scenes machinations. However, in October 2020, he was detained by the police and accused of influencing the results of the second and third leagues through referees and also of embezzlement. He spent almost three months in custody. Police continue to investigate the case, having accused a total of 22 people so far.
But back to the Opava wiretaps. “The red card has failed. After the 1st yellow card, inadequate behavior towards my person. I don’t understand. “I’m on the phone, if necessary,” he offered to explain.
Zavadil stood on the “rebel” side, ie among the people who were in opposition to the club chairman Machovsky. At least according to another part of the police file.
“It’s being grounded in Opava. man to Berbra. He also states that Zavadil would like to meet with the federal vice-president to confirm that the Opava cabin is behind him. “Machovsky is against us,” Berbr agrees.
“I can confirm the incident when the players led by Zavadil invited the director Machovský into the cabin and shot him there,” says the current chairman of the board, Zdeněk Viktorin, who then sat on the supervisory board.
Zavadil responded to the request for comment by asking what the questions would cover. After specifying that it was a player revolt in the club, he fell silent. Ozaniak refused to talk to Aktuálně.cz.
At the time of the phone calls, nine rounds of the league year had been played. And although Opava won the first two duels, in other matches, with the exception of a sensational draw, Slavia fell and with only seven points she was at the bottom of the table. Along with the poor results, the frustration of the fans grew, which played Ozaniak’s cards.
“Baník will give as a banner: ‘We had Šafarčík, you have Drastík now.’ I paid for Baník. I pay for it all. one of the intercepted calls with Berbr. Petr Šafarčík formerly owned by Baník Ostrava, Andreas Drastík is a former first-league judge who has held the position of Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board since January 2019.
And he mentions that the main protest against the new club leadership will come in a domestic match with Slavia. “We’ll let them suffocate. What else will they do with that Slavia here? So we’ll see,” he adds.
Opava played against Slavia in front of almost five thousand spectators, and although Jaroslav Svozil from Opava received a red card in the 13th minute, the home team managed to equalize at 1: 1 in the ten just before the end of the match.
Opava fans protest during the match with Prague Slavia Photo: ČTK
The protests could not be overlooked during the match. And don’t overhear either. The stadium hated screams, fans had stickers, T-shirts and flyers ready. They then left the stands for ten minutes, leaving a banner above the empty rows “Drastík, Glončák, Machovský – undesirable”. Petr Glončák, the then chairman of the club’s board of directors, was added to the two men already described.
“I have been pointing this out all the time and I see that I was right. It is sad when a shareholder goes against his club in an effort to regain his influence and continue to practice chakra with referees. In addition, he is able to draw players and fans into the game,” he said now. Drastík. “After those banners, I understood that there was no point in devoting energy and time to people like Ozaniak,” he said.
He resigned from his position at the club in August 2019, and was soon followed by Machovský and Glončák. Jaroslav Rovňan became the director and the mayor of the town, Tomáš Navrátil from the ANO movement, the then vice-chairman of the board, accompanied by Ozaniak, followed Berber. The Opava club opposition speaks of it as a “way to kiss the ‘Chief’s’ ring”.
Opava City Hall to the case
“I’m sorry, but at the moment I can’t comment on the whole matter, as this information is completely new to me. However, if it were confirmed, it would be a shock and we would have to deal with the situation as the club’s main shareholder.”
Petr Orieščík, Deputy Mayor of Opava, who is in charge of the football club
“The fact that I did not hide my trip to Prague indicates that I did not intend to do anything wrong. But I cannot, unfortunately, influence how my intention was given by the media,” Navrátil said, speculating that he should promise obedience to Strahov.
The league year, which Opava was playing at the time, turned out well for the club. The SFC remained in the highest competition.
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