He did not succeed in everything, he faced criticism more than once. The negotiations in Čestlice were endless. “A lot of things here were a combination of concepts and impressions, we still have a long way to go to Europe, we have to tell ourselves that. It was a general meeting that had to be over in three hours if things were going on normally. We still have a lot to work on, especially some of us.” Petr Fousek shakes his head. “We have a democracy that also has its downsides,” he adds.
Some proposals were approved, others were not. So how do you feel? As a winner, a loser or did you play the game…?
I don’t know if three variants of football terminology are enough for evaluation. There are more things that succeeded than those that failed. The winners usually only appear at the election general meeting. The general assembly should undoubtedly be shorter, some excesses have appeared. Some confuse democracy with anarchy. I think that the current management of the association has clearly shown the direction in which it is going.
General manager of football Sparta František Čupr on the new stadium and interest in the derby with SlaviaVideo: O2 TV Sport
What is your overall impression of the general meeting?
I see some positives, other things we didn’t manage to move as we would have imagined. It is essential to approve the strategic plan, which was a task resulting from the previous general meeting. It has been proven that the management of the association is healthy. When it comes to the distribution of membership contributions, we are not concerned about freezing the other half. We took note of the stadium’s points of interest, as well as the restructuring of the competitions. We’ll deal with it somehow.
It has often been said that FAČR is not transparent.
The ongoing discussions about transparency are debatable. At the same time, the Football Association does not violate the laws or its own regulations, we are sufficiently transparent. Unfortunately, we are only two years away from changing the football management system, it is part of democracy.
Photo: Pavel Dosadil, Sport.cz
Petr Fousek, chairman of FAČR, after the end of the general meeting in Čestlice.
The executive committee was tasked with negotiating with Sparta about its project to build a national stadium. Your reaction?
We adopted a four-point resolution on the whole matter. The executive committee has been dealing with the stadium for two years. First, he had to resolve a number of obligations, both non-financial and financial, and in the following year he assessed twelve different options for how to deal with the campus. In May, everything was narrowed down to variants of a sports nature, i.e. a stadium or a training center. The conditions must be the same for everyone, transparent. We will undoubtedly deal with Sparta.
Zdeněk Psotka denied that he would end up in the position of technical director. So how is he?
We are still talking to each other, we have agreed not to communicate things in any way. There was a lot of media nonsense. Zdeněk Psotka is still the technical director of the football association. He has done a good job over the year, he has the skills that made us choose him. There are some negotiations going on now. I can’t say more.
The report of the revision and control commission was not approved, which pointed to the atrocities of the Berber era. Is not it strange?
The commission is an independent body, we also have our own external auditor. We will act as an executive committee already on the basis of the reports they submit to us, it is a sensitive legal issue. What pleases me the most is that it clearly shows the divide in 2021, what happened before and how we operate now.
The most important points of the 25th FAČR General Meeting (June 23, 2023 in Čestlice)
Membership fees – The General Meeting approved the doubling of membership fees. In 2024, adult footballers will pay CZK 400, youth under 18 and seniors CZK 200. However, there was a passionate debate over the use of the money. FAČR will be able to use half, i.e. the total amount so far, as it pleases. However, the executive committee’s proposal for the distribution of the second half did not win a supermajority in the Chamber of Bohemia. And that by a single vote, 54 delegates were in favor, 33 against and 21 abstained. The finances will thus remain with FAČR until the next regular or extraordinary general meeting decides how to deal with them. “Freezing money? It’s like buying ice cream and licking it through the glass. We will have the money, but we cannot use it,” said Vladimír Kristýn, a member of the executive committee.
Reorganization of competitions – The General Assembly took note of the technical director Zdenek Psotka’s report on the restructuring of adult competitions. The material should be submitted for voting in a year at the next general meeting. When asked directly, Psotka also rejected reports that he would be leaving his post.
Evžen Rošický Stadium in Strahov – The resolution of the executive committee was approved, supplemented by the request of František Čupra, the director of Sparta Prague, that the executive committee should start negotiations with Sparta regarding its bid for the stadium. The final verdict therefore reads: “The general meeting takes note of the information material on the proposal for the next procedure regarding the handling and use of the stadium. It also authorizes the executive committee to implement further steps and elaborate in more detail the sports options for the future use of the area, in the sense of the proposed steps of Variant A Training Center, Variant B Football stadium and then Variant I Land exchange for the purpose of implementing Variants A or B. The general meeting also instructs the committee to submit a report on the progress so far and a proposal for specific use at the next general meeting.”
