Even before the last round of the main stage of the Conference League, it was clear that Slovan Bratislava had not fulfilled its ambitions in Europe.
The chance to advance to the playoffs disappeared early, and the results seem all the more bitter because among the promotion elite there are also clubs with significantly smaller budgets.
Slovan lost four out of five games, conceded nine goals and scored only four. About a third of the clubs with a lower budget than the Slovak champion will be among the 24 teams that still have hope for advancement.
For example, the Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar are in the advanced position.
However, Slovan was not the only disappointment in the Conference League. Rapid Vienna failed even more, which did not get a single point and is at the very bottom of the table.
More losses
Legia Warsaw, which has only three points, is experiencing similar frustration. Dinamo Kyiv can also forget about the promotion, although in its case it must be taken into account that it is a club from a country ravaged by war.
Last fall, Slovan lost eight competitive matches, six of which were in the main phase of the Champions League. He faced clubs with incomparably bigger budgets – Celtic Glasgow, AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, Manchester City, Girona or Dinamo Zagreb.
He did not manage the remaining two in the league with Žilina.
This season, the balance is even worse. Slovan has already lost ten matches, while only four times they were beaten by an opponent that was clearly stronger financially and qualitatively (YB Bern twice, Strasbourg and Alkmaar). The sensational triumph over Rayo Vallecano seems all the more like a flight that deviates from reality.
The last match
Slovan awaits in the last round of BK Häcken. The match is played on Thursday at Tehelno poli, kick-off is at 21.00, live broadcast by JOJ ŠPORT.
Rahim Ibrahim heads in the Slovan Bratislava – Racing Strasburg Conference League match. (Author: SITA)
“We want to show the fans that we care. We know we can’t progress anymore, but we’re still playing for the club coefficient until next season, which is also important. And most of all, we want to give our fans one more win before Christmas,” stopper Kevin Wimmer told the club’s website.
Slovan is still playing for a decent package. For the victory, UEFA guarantees a bonus of 400,000 euros.
“As a team, we went through a difficult period, everything on the field was not as we would like. In such moments, you can change it by fighting, running – just like on Sunday with Žilina,” added Wimmer, who feels that the mood in the cabin has improved.
Slovan is the paper favorite. The Slovak champion’s budget is estimated at 32 million euros, Häcken has around 19 million.
“It doesn’t matter that we are already out of the game. We want to win for our fans,” says midfielder Marko Tolič.
Häcken: unpleasant opponent
The Swedish club was eliminated in the first round of the European League by Spartak Trnava (1:0, 2:2). It was a balanced and dramatic fight. In the second round, Häcken surprisingly knocked out Anderlecht Brussels, but subsequently lost to Norwegian Brann.
In the main phase of the Conference League, Häcken lost at home to Strasburg (1:2) and in Mostar (1:2). He drew three times – with Rayo Vallecano (2:2), Shelbourne (0:0) and Larnaca (1:1).
Before the last league match with Žilina, coach Vladimír Weiss omitted four players of African origin from the roster.
“They came late or didn’t come for lunch. It’s a matter of attitude and discipline. I can’t allow it in this direction. It’s incomprehensible to me,” he explained.
A coordinated move?
He named specific names: Gambian Alasana Yirajang, Rahim Ibrahim, Sharani Zuberu and Kelvin Ofori (all three Ghanaians). It is not clear when the offense was committed, but it appears to be a coordinated move.
After the loss in Košice on December 8, Weiss indicated that the cabin was not working well.
“There’s enough trouble here – even in the cabin. There’s a lot of these black boys and then it’s one with the other. It’s going back and forth. It’s not good, you have to do something about it,” he said.
So far, we’ve only heard one side. The players have not commented publicly. One can only speculate whether it was also a form of protest against the coach’s unfortunate words about black boys.
Young and insecure
The fate of the aforementioned quartet is unclear. What will Slovan do with gifted rebels? All of them are young, promising and project players. According to Transfermarkt, Rahim Ibrahim is worth 2.3 million euros, Yirajang and Ofori are also worth more than a million. With a stable game load, their real price tag could be three times as much.
Photo from the match FK Železiarne Podbrezová – SK Slovan Bratislava. (Author: skslovan.com)
Twenty-year-old Alasana Yirajang arrived before the season from Podbrezova as a big investment, for around one million euros. So far, however, he has rather disappointed. Although he scored the winning goal against Rayo Vallecano, he has yet to score in the league. Last year, he scored nine goals in Podbrezová.
Another case is twenty-four-year-old Rahim Ibrahim. Weiss praised him back in August:
“I believe in him, he is a very important player for us. He has a huge physical fund. A modern footballer who will help us a lot. He is perhaps the best purchase in the four years I have been here.”
Today he talks about him differently.
Tricked transfer
“Like they brought in another Ibrahim – with black hair instead. That’s something terrible. I know where the connection is. One with the other. Poor performances.”
Sharani Zuberu (ŠK Slovan). (Author: TASR)
However, he refused to specify the reason. “Unfortunately, I have to keep that to myself.”
One of the reasons could also be the failed summer transfer to the Danish Midtjylland, which Slovan allegedly rejected. Expecting the player to stay motivated was risky – Ibrahim had a reputation as a problem footballer before and he literally refused to transfer from Trenčín to Slovan in February.
The general manager of AS Trenčín Róbert Rybníček admitted that he was sold below the price.
“His value can be even higher and he can bring much more to Slovan than to us in the next agreement,” he told Sportnet.
Former Trenčín coach Ivan Galád recalled the episode before the match with Slovan: “I offered him to go play. He replied that he was preparing for a transfer.”
Promises that do not fulfill reality
Kelvin Ofori (24) arrived in the summer from Spartak Trnava as a free agent. Without severance pay, but with a high signing bonus, which according to estimates could reach hundreds of thousands of euros.
Trnava is said to have offered him the highest salary in the club’s history, but Slovan overpaid the competition.
While he was a star and top scorer in Trnava (10 goals last year), he is only a substitute in Slovan. He scored three goals in 14 matches, did not play a single minute in the European Cups, and was not even on the roster in the Conference League.
The coaches were not satisfied with his training process, the player felt guilty.
Talent from God?
Sharani Zuberu is in Slovan for the third season and is 25 years old. His former coach, Peter Hyballa, claimed that he had a God-given talent. Weiss described him in 2023 as a modern-day footballer who was “picked up for free off the street”.
Zuberu has exceptional physical parameters – he jumps 60 centimeters from a place, reaches a speed of 36 km/h. He was at his best last year when Weiss turned him into a fullback. But then injuries came again.
He played only seven games (426 minutes) this season. It is valid from the beginning of its operation.
He spends more time on the playground than on the field. It was also not possible to eliminate the technical shortcomings.
