Xamax bankruptcy leaves CHF20 million hole

Swiss football club FC Neuchâtel Xamax, which slipped into near-oblivion in 2012 after being declared bankrupt, left debts totalling CHF20 million ($20.8 million), more than double earlier estimates, officials have concluded. The former owner, Bulat Chagaev, is to face trial in Neuchâtel in August for mismanagement and attempted fraud. Four years after being declared bankrupt, kicked out of the Swiss first division and stripped of their football licence, FC Neuchâtel Xamax has made it back in the news for events both on and off the pitch. On Thursday, Alain Rivaux, a member of the Neuchâtel cantonal government, announced that the club’s bankruptcy on January 26, 2012 had left debts amounting to CHF20 million. “This is due to the megalomania of the president in place at the time,” Ribaux told reporters, referring to the Chechen former owner Bulat Chagaev. Ribaux added that the four years it had taken to finalise the liquidation plan was both long and short: “For FC ...