BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/10/2008

"Last Dictatorship" Crashes Soccer Party for Rich Europe Teams

By Tariq Panja and Paul Abelsky

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A team owned by a tractor equipment company from a country the U.S. government calls ``Europe's last dictatorship'' is gate-crashing the continent's most lucrative soccer competition.

Belarus's BATE Borisov, which plays its home games in front of 5,000 supporters, is the first team from the former Soviet state to qualify for the Champions League. After games with Real Madrid and Juventus, it plays its third match in the competition against UEFA Cup holder Zenit St. Petersburg tomorrow night.

``It's the first time in Belarus's history as an independent country that anything of this scale has happened,'' Yan Rzheussky, a fan of the club, said by telephone from Borisov. ``BATE is now playing not just for Borisov, they are playing for Belarus.''

BATE's appearance in the Champions League has come at an opportune time for Belarus, an ally of Russia that's trying to mend ties with western powers. The European Union last week lifted a travel ban on Belarus PresidentAleksandr Lukashenko, who had sanctions against him because of crackdowns on political opposition during his 14 years in power.

Played on Tuesday and Wednesday nights between September and May, the Champions League is watched in 230 countries, according to UEFA, European soccer's governing body based in Nyon, Switzerland. UEFA said it distributed a minimum of 589 million euros ($790 million) to the 32 clubs competing in the Champions League last season.

``It's very important that Belarus becomes better known to the world and sport provides excellent opportunities for that,'' said Andrei Popov, a foreign ministry spokesman in Minsk, the capital of the country of 10 million.

Highest Odds

Without the millionaire stars that make up the rosters of its opponents, BATE was expected by bookmakers to finish at the bottom of its group of four teams. Britain's Ladbrokes Plc puts BATE at 66-1 to win the group, the highest odds against any team playing in the competition's group phase.

BATE's team is mainly made up of home-grown players, while Real Madrid supplements its collection of Spanish internationals with Italian World Cup winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

In Spain and Italy, top players earn more than $100,000 a week, 10 times the annual gross domestic product per capita in Belarus. Zenit broke the Russian transfer record in August when it paid $44 million for Portugal's Danny.

BATE has surprised soccer fans and bookies with its start. It followed an opening 2-0 loss at Real Madrid on Sept. 17 with a 2-2 home draw with 27-time Italian league champion Juventus after taking a 2-0 lead inside 23 minutes.

`Last Dictatorship'

Yet not everyone in Belarus is happy with the kudos for the country, whose government is Europe's last executioner, bans most forms of protest and until August imprisoned political opponents, according to Amnesty International.

``The authorities have taken advantage of BATE's success to justify their economic and political policies and elicit support from people,'' Zmiter Dashkevich, a leader of the opposition group Young Front, said by telephone from Minsk. He said he was one of eight political prisoners released in August.

International observers from the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the continent's main rights and democracy watchdog, said last month's parliamentary elections fell short of international standards.

UEFA General Secretary David Taylor said it wasn't his organization's job to rule on political issues, saying it took its lead from the United Nations and EU.

``Clearly we hold some very strong moral values but we will not enter the field of politics and say one system is good and another system is bad,'' Taylor said.

Tractor Plant

BATE's performance in reaching the competition, which is reserved for the best teams from Europe's 53 different soccer leagues should be applauded, said Taylor.

Founded in 1973, BATE, owned by OAO Borisov Car and Tractor Electrical Equipment Plant, is the first team from the former Soviet Union, outside of Russia and Ukraine, to qualify for the Champions League. It played three qualifying rounds, before being pitted with the two former champions and Zenit, a team financed by OAO Gazprom, the world's biggest natural gas exporter.

Underscoring BATE's financial inferiority compared with its opponents is UEFA's insistence the team play its home matches 75 miles away in Minsk. Officials said the 5,402-seat Haradzki Stadium in Borisov, a city in central Belarus with a population of about 150,000, falls short of its requirements.

Record nine-time European champion Real Madrid's Bernebeu stadium holds 80,000 fans. BATE hosts Real Madrid on Nov. 25.

``We know that BATE Borisov face some challenging opponents in the Champions League,'' Popov said. ``Belarus unites in wishing the team the Champions League success that it deserves.'

Source:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aIMatoEcFd_Q&refer=uk

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