[SPA] La Liga 2009/2010 (17 Viewers)
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More than a club you say? Yeah it's a company with no identity. Just like Manu 
http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/03/15/bunyodkor-barcelona-and-the-dictators-daughter/
Bunyodkor, Barcelona and the Dictator’s Daughter
Posted by Tom Dunmore on 3/15/09 • Categorized as Politics and Economics
Bunyodkor badgeDoesn’t that badge to the right look familiar? That shape. . .Yes, is that the badge of Barcelona or Bunyodkor?
It of course belongs to the latter, Uzbeki champions Bunyodkor, who obviously modelled their badge after the Spanish giants. And the connections do not end there.
As reported in a brilliant article in today’s Observer by Kevin O’Flynn, Bunyodkor were the team behind last summer’s audacious attempt to woo Eto’o by offering him $25m to play for a couple of months and who ended up with former Barca-star Rivaldo instead.
Beyond these surface dealings, the connections between this murkily financed new Super Club in Uzbekistan and Barcelona appear to be substantial, and cast a shadow on Barcelona’s global reputation for unusual integrity.
As O’Flynn explains,
Four years ago Bunyodkor did not exist. They won promotion from the amateur second division at the first attempt, finished runners-up in cup and league next time out, and in their third season won the double, with a run to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League to boot. They have a former World Cup winner in the team, alongside the Asian footballer of the year. Now they are getting serious.
Bunyodkor are building a new $150m stadium, despite the fact that their current 15,000-capacity home, built in a few months, is less than a year old. A friendly against Barcelona, whose president, Joan Laporta, flew in to lay the first brick last August, will mark the official opening of their new home this summer.
Barcelona have a formal “cooperation contract” with Bunyodkor, and that friendly in Uzbekistan is apparently going to be worth $5M to the Spanish club.
Gulnara KarimovaYet disturbingly, it seems that that Bunyodkor’s purpose in life is to be the PR vehicle for dictator Ismail Karimov’s daughter Gulnara and her serious political ambitions to succeed her father, who has ruled Uzbekistan for over two decades with a bloody fist. The money Barcelona are taking has an ugly origin.
Given the well-known evidence of human rights abuse in Uzbekistan under Karimov (a UN visit in 2002 concluded torture was “systemic”), it seems a little unwise that a team so closely linked to Unicef such as Barcelona would also want to be connected to Bunyodkor.
As Britain’s former Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray told O’Flynn, “It would be like linking up with Adolf Hitler to promote a Berlin team in the 1930s – it really is astonishing even in the money-mad world of football to be quite that blind to morality.”
Further digging reveals even closer connections between Bunyodkor and Barcelona. It has been reported that Gulnara Karimova’s company Zeromax (owners of Bunyodkor) are in talks to purchase Mallorca FC, with Barcelona’s President “an intermediary in these talks.”
You might be surprised that we haven’t yet had a mention of the best known Uzbeki powerbroker in football, the obese oligrach Alisher Usmanov (”thug, criminal, racketeer, heroin trafficker and alleged rapist”) who once threatened to sue this blog and is still strengthening his takeover attempt at Arsenal through Red and White holdings. Rye concludes (apparently based on a question asked at an art opening) that Usmanov is not behind the club, and does not know who his — unlike everybody else.
Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Usmanov
Of course, Usmanov was being characteristically disingenuous, given his known closeness to the Karimovs. It was Usmanov and Gulnara Karimova who, according to Murray in his book Murder In Samarkland, negotiated Uzbekistan’s historically huge oil and gas development contract, awarded in 2005 to Usmanov’s Russian company Gazprom and which tilted the country away from the U.S. and back to Russia and Usmanov’s friend Vladimir Putin. The deal was sealed by a bribe to Gulnara worth at least $88M to her, the book explains.
Karimova’s company Zeromax and Usmanov’s trading in commodities have also been linked since then. And Usmanov, according to Murray, is the preferred alternate candidate to succeed Karimov if his daughter does not win enough approval. One would be very surprised if his finger was not also in Bunyodkor’s pie or at least aware of its backers.
Gulnara is no innocent in the regime’s repression, as Murray reaffirmed again last year: “The cruel and rapacious Karimov family strengthen still further their grip on Uzbekistan’s command economy, and continue to siphon off the money of their people. Karimov’s daughter. Gulnara, is the family’s principal bagman.”
The backing of Bunyodkor by this despicable regime is blatant enough that Barcelona, a member-owned social club hailed in 2006 by investigative journalist David Conn as “embodying a more inspirational identity for a football club than being a private company owned by businessmen or an oligarch’s toy” should be ashamed of themselves.
Unicef’s association with Barcelona, who gave up space on their shirt to promote the charity, is based on this reputation and they are thus also tarnished when Barcelona parade for cash in Uzbekistan at a stadium built at the behest of a bloody regime’s leaders.
In a bizarre continuation of this murky simulacrum, Bunyodkur’s slogan on their English website is “Bunyodkur plays for the sake of FANS”. Just like Barcelona, right?
Bunyodkor, Barcelona and the Dictator’s Daughter
Posted by Tom Dunmore on 3/15/09 • Categorized as Politics and Economics
Bunyodkor badgeDoesn’t that badge to the right look familiar? That shape. . .Yes, is that the badge of Barcelona or Bunyodkor?
It of course belongs to the latter, Uzbeki champions Bunyodkor, who obviously modelled their badge after the Spanish giants. And the connections do not end there.
As reported in a brilliant article in today’s Observer by Kevin O’Flynn, Bunyodkor were the team behind last summer’s audacious attempt to woo Eto’o by offering him $25m to play for a couple of months and who ended up with former Barca-star Rivaldo instead.
Beyond these surface dealings, the connections between this murkily financed new Super Club in Uzbekistan and Barcelona appear to be substantial, and cast a shadow on Barcelona’s global reputation for unusual integrity.
As O’Flynn explains,
Four years ago Bunyodkor did not exist. They won promotion from the amateur second division at the first attempt, finished runners-up in cup and league next time out, and in their third season won the double, with a run to the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League to boot. They have a former World Cup winner in the team, alongside the Asian footballer of the year. Now they are getting serious.
Bunyodkor are building a new $150m stadium, despite the fact that their current 15,000-capacity home, built in a few months, is less than a year old. A friendly against Barcelona, whose president, Joan Laporta, flew in to lay the first brick last August, will mark the official opening of their new home this summer.
Barcelona have a formal “cooperation contract” with Bunyodkor, and that friendly in Uzbekistan is apparently going to be worth $5M to the Spanish club.
Gulnara KarimovaYet disturbingly, it seems that that Bunyodkor’s purpose in life is to be the PR vehicle for dictator Ismail Karimov’s daughter Gulnara and her serious political ambitions to succeed her father, who has ruled Uzbekistan for over two decades with a bloody fist. The money Barcelona are taking has an ugly origin.
Given the well-known evidence of human rights abuse in Uzbekistan under Karimov (a UN visit in 2002 concluded torture was “systemic”), it seems a little unwise that a team so closely linked to Unicef such as Barcelona would also want to be connected to Bunyodkor.
As Britain’s former Ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray told O’Flynn, “It would be like linking up with Adolf Hitler to promote a Berlin team in the 1930s – it really is astonishing even in the money-mad world of football to be quite that blind to morality.”
Further digging reveals even closer connections between Bunyodkor and Barcelona. It has been reported that Gulnara Karimova’s company Zeromax (owners of Bunyodkor) are in talks to purchase Mallorca FC, with Barcelona’s President “an intermediary in these talks.”
You might be surprised that we haven’t yet had a mention of the best known Uzbeki powerbroker in football, the obese oligrach Alisher Usmanov (”thug, criminal, racketeer, heroin trafficker and alleged rapist”) who once threatened to sue this blog and is still strengthening his takeover attempt at Arsenal through Red and White holdings. Rye concludes (apparently based on a question asked at an art opening) that Usmanov is not behind the club, and does not know who his — unlike everybody else.
Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Usmanov
Of course, Usmanov was being characteristically disingenuous, given his known closeness to the Karimovs. It was Usmanov and Gulnara Karimova who, according to Murray in his book Murder In Samarkland, negotiated Uzbekistan’s historically huge oil and gas development contract, awarded in 2005 to Usmanov’s Russian company Gazprom and which tilted the country away from the U.S. and back to Russia and Usmanov’s friend Vladimir Putin. The deal was sealed by a bribe to Gulnara worth at least $88M to her, the book explains.
Karimova’s company Zeromax and Usmanov’s trading in commodities have also been linked since then. And Usmanov, according to Murray, is the preferred alternate candidate to succeed Karimov if his daughter does not win enough approval. One would be very surprised if his finger was not also in Bunyodkor’s pie or at least aware of its backers.
Gulnara is no innocent in the regime’s repression, as Murray reaffirmed again last year: “The cruel and rapacious Karimov family strengthen still further their grip on Uzbekistan’s command economy, and continue to siphon off the money of their people. Karimov’s daughter. Gulnara, is the family’s principal bagman.”
The backing of Bunyodkor by this despicable regime is blatant enough that Barcelona, a member-owned social club hailed in 2006 by investigative journalist David Conn as “embodying a more inspirational identity for a football club than being a private company owned by businessmen or an oligarch’s toy” should be ashamed of themselves.
Unicef’s association with Barcelona, who gave up space on their shirt to promote the charity, is based on this reputation and they are thus also tarnished when Barcelona parade for cash in Uzbekistan at a stadium built at the behest of a bloody regime’s leaders.
In a bizarre continuation of this murky simulacrum, Bunyodkur’s slogan on their English website is “Bunyodkur plays for the sake of FANS”. Just like Barcelona, right?
Uh oh! Oh no!
Looks like Barca doesn't care about children after all, and have their hands dirty in a bloody, dictatorial regime.
What will Ian do now? Will he stick it out with his human rights-abusing comrades, or will he find yet another club?
I hear that the folks at the Bridge have a very trustworthy and honorable owner.
Tune in later when our favorite pothead hypocrite reveals all in... Barca Gloryhunters.
+REP, great find, Oz.
I'm busy playing MAG Andy but glancing into this thread while waiting, I couldnt believe it, even if I was thinking ok, he can decide whatever, he has some point, but then to read the self-brainwashing of painting Barca as a some kind of angelic utopian Club, just bit too rich.
Rembered this shit and posted it, rembered because I NEVER in my time as Footie fan never heard any club have a big sponsor deal with a bloody and tyrannical regime like Uzbekistan. UN were criticising Barca (more like Laporta, sleazy fuck), for the endorsing Unicef while same thing flying away players to play in Uzbekistan in the start of the season, due to a very complicated and shady PR agreement with that regim.
Rembered this shit and posted it, rembered because I NEVER in my time as Footie fan never heard any club have a big sponsor deal with a bloody and tyrannical regime like Uzbekistan. UN were criticising Barca (more like Laporta, sleazy fuck), for the endorsing Unicef while same thing flying away players to play in Uzbekistan in the start of the season, due to a very complicated and shady PR agreement with that regim.
Good job remembering. I knew, or thought, Laporta played a roll in sending Rivaldo to Bunyodkor, but I had no idea the roots went in so deep as forming a partnership with the Uzbek regime. This is pretty criminal stuff here.
While it was hilarious reading Ian's pontification about his new club and then seeing the article you posted, it's really not a laughing matter reading into what this Uzbek regime actually does to its citizens. Rated one of the "worst of the worst" oppressive societies, this regime commits heinous acts such as boiling religious leaders to death.
Although, I can't say I'm particularly surprised that a propaganda machine from the west united with another from the east. The slime oozes through every crack.
While it was hilarious reading Ian's pontification about his new club and then seeing the article you posted, it's really not a laughing matter reading into what this Uzbek regime actually does to its citizens. Rated one of the "worst of the worst" oppressive societies, this regime commits heinous acts such as boiling religious leaders to death.
Although, I can't say I'm particularly surprised that a propaganda machine from the west united with another from the east. The slime oozes through every crack.
There's a book called Murder in Samarkand by a former British diplomat about the human right abuse in Uzbekistan and how Britain (among other nations) turned a blind eye to the situation. I had forgotten all about it (heard about it on a TV show), now that I remember I need to get a copy of the book.
Barca chat. 
People who switch allegiances deserve all the contempt they are treated with by proper fans.
People who switch allegiances deserve all the contempt they are treated with by proper fans.
I don't see how someone can just switch. Juventus are like my first love, I couldn't just switch to a different team, even if I wanted to. If you can just switch from out of nowhere, you've never been a true fan.
It was all good till now!
Red part is so disappointing! The whole world is like this, except the very very rich or the old fashioned ones, or the ones don't need money like we do, and can make it from other sources, like the fan base. Selling the names, having sponsors is the same as selling tickets or making a deal with Nike for the jersey. All clubs do that, these are business deal, and it's funny if someone opposes these. What Barcelona does about the UNICEF donation is amazing, and they deserve the respect for that. But aren't they the only one do that? This is ridiculous to mention it as an excuse to stop supporting other clubs.
The blue part is true, and I hate the fact that Juve is not like Barcelona or Ajax, then again how many clubs can manage that? It has something to do with scouts and coaches, and again, few clubs can do that, Ajax and Barcelona comes to mind as the best ones, but it is much much better than what Premier League clubs do these days, stealing teenagers/children from all over the world, I would feel ashamed of that, and not what Juve does in this case. Actually I am proud Juve doesn't do these..
You are contradicting yourself now, you said you were not a fan, you didn't consider yourself a fan, and you are expecting loyalty from the club to you?
I defended/understood you because you left because of the Calciopoli scandal, or you wanted to watch a better football, but all these you mentioned don't make sense to me..
Red part is so disappointing! The whole world is like this, except the very very rich or the old fashioned ones, or the ones don't need money like we do, and can make it from other sources, like the fan base. Selling the names, having sponsors is the same as selling tickets or making a deal with Nike for the jersey. All clubs do that, these are business deal, and it's funny if someone opposes these. What Barcelona does about the UNICEF donation is amazing, and they deserve the respect for that. But aren't they the only one do that? This is ridiculous to mention it as an excuse to stop supporting other clubs.
The blue part is true, and I hate the fact that Juve is not like Barcelona or Ajax, then again how many clubs can manage that? It has something to do with scouts and coaches, and again, few clubs can do that, Ajax and Barcelona comes to mind as the best ones, but it is much much better than what Premier League clubs do these days, stealing teenagers/children from all over the world, I would feel ashamed of that, and not what Juve does in this case. Actually I am proud Juve doesn't do these..
You are contradicting yourself now, you said you were not a fan, you didn't consider yourself a fan, and you are expecting loyalty from the club to you?
I defended/understood you because you left because of the Calciopoli scandal, or you wanted to watch a better football, but all these you mentioned don't make sense to me..
Exactly!!!Also, it's not like that Barca's youth products are all born in Catalonia or Spain. They have scouts which are going around the world and are hiring kids for their youth school. Ofcourse I don't mind that, as a matter of fact I would love that we are able to do that. But on the other hand one could always argue that Barca way is dirty, snitching youngesters from poor clubs in South America and giving them nothing in return and claiming that those players made it only thanks to them.