Football clubs these days are global entities; they have a worldwide reach and command packed stadiums wherever they visit during their off-season tours. The vast sum of money that has flowed into the game during recent times has ensured that the beautiful game is incredibly alluring to potential investors, with the windfall from succeeding in any of the bigger leagues quite significant.
Therefore, clubs usually go all out in transfer windows, trying to buy the best possible players, throwing ludicrous amounts of cash in the hopes of competing with the so-called ‘big dogs.’
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While this works out well in the short term, it financially cripples these clubs if they don’t take the right measures to balance the books and trim the wage bill to guarantee the continued smooth running of the club.
Also read: 5 big clubs which went bankrupt
It takes a certain degree of financial and economic acumen to run a club smoothly and ensure self-sustainability and profitability at the same time. The clubs that spend without any regard for long-term stability are usually forced to liquidate their assets and eventually end up bankrupt.
Here we take a look at 5 famous clubs who, through a combination of financial mismanagement, negligence and some torrid luck, ended up being wiped off the footballing map.
#5 Los Angeles Aztecs
Much like the North American soccer league itself, the Los Angeles Aztecs disappeared from the football scene as quickly as they came on to it.
The NASL was a bankrolled competition with the aim of helping football become one of America’s largest sports. To do this, many of the clubs brought in some of football’s greatest players a little past their peak; much like the MLS does now.
The LA Aztecs, in particular, were the Western version of the NY Cosmos, as they brought in the likes of George Best, Johan Cruyff and legendary manager, Rinus Michels. In the Aztecs’ first season in 1974, they managed to win the NASL by beating Miami Toros but failed to get past the semis of the playoffs after their triumph.
Co-owned by Elton John, the club’s average attendance was around 12,000, but like 6 other NASL teams, the Aztecs went bankrupt and dissolved in 1982.
#4 Dukla Prague
Dukla Prague was one of the most successful sides in Czechoslovakia, winning the top-flight 11 times as well as the Czechoslovak Cup on 8 occasions. They were also the first team to win the domestic cup and by doing so, became the first team in the country to win the double.
The Prague side became Czechoslovakia’s pride in Europe, as Dukla reached the European Cup semi-final in 1966/67, losing 3-1 on aggregate to eventual winners, Celtic. They also managed to reach the semis of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1985/86 and even boasted of a Ballon d’Or winner in their brief 48-year history. The man who won it, Josef Masopust, was a part of the Czechoslovakia side that reached the finals of the FIFA World Cup in 1962, a team that also contained 6 other Dukla Prague players.
It was to end in misery for Dukla as they fell to the 3rd division, before becoming FK Pribram as part of a merger in 1996.
#3 Wimbledon
The Dons were an infamous football club with their most impressive feat being an FA Cup win in 1988 as a Division 1 side; the victory made incredibly popular because an unfashionable and unfancied side in Wimbledon had overcome the then juggernauts, Liverpool.
Boasting the likes of Vinnie Jones, John Fashanu, and Lawrie Sanchez in their ranks, Wimbledon was a club that footballing fans loved to hate; until they were relocated in 2004.
The side from South-London was in the Premier League during its inception and stayed in the top-flight until the millennium, when they went on a complete downward spiral. Relegated in 2000, the board decided to take the club to Milton Keynes 2 years later and completed their relocation at the end of the 2003/04 season – rebranding the club ‘MK Dons.’
With the owners ignoring the fans and the team still in rapid decline, supporters started their own club, AFC Wimbledon, and climbed their way up the footballing ladder into League 2.
This season marked the first time ever that the 2 clubs met on an equal platforml, with MK Dons running out 1-0 winners at home.
#2 K.S.V. Waregem
Waregem were a Belgian side that existed for 76 years – until 2001 – and were regulars in the Belgian top-flight from 1966 to 1996, with the exception of just 2 seasons.
The club never managed to win the league, but won the 1974 Domestic Cup and were runners-up in the competition in 1982, going on to beat Standard Liege in the Super Cup shortly after.
Their biggest claim to fame though came in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup. Waregem beat clubs like Osasuna, A.C. Milan and Hajduk Split to reach the semi-finals of the competition, before crashing out to F.C. Koln, losing 7-3 on aggregate.
Fortunes didn’t get much better and they ended up in the Belgian third division by 1999. Finally, financial difficulties led the club to merge with Zultse V.V. to form current top-flight outfit S.V. Zulte Waregem.
#1 Dalian Shide
With the amount of money being pumped into Chinese football at the minute, it’s hard to imagine any club ceasing to exist, but back in 2013, China’s most successful team had a dramatic fall from grace.
Dalian Shide won the Chinese top-flight 4 times, before billionaire Xu Ming took over, and though his close acquaintances wrote him off as a man with no footballing knowledge whatsoever, Shide continued to dominate Chinese football; winning 3 more titles on the bounce and also picking up a Chinese FA Cup.
Xu Ming then began to slow down investment into the club, funding his political friend Bo Xilai – who was the mayor of Dalian and a held a high rank in the communist party – instead. Bo’s wife was imprisoned for the murder of a British businessman and after an investigation, both Bo and Xiu were charged with corruption as it turned out that the politician had accepted bribes of around £3 million from the Dalian Shide owner.
The club itself was supposed to merge with the Aerbin Group, who formed their own club, Dalian Aerbin but the Chinese FA refused. The Aerbin Group eventually purchased Dalian Shide outright and swallowed the club, thereby causing its demise.
A similar fate was suffered by negligent chairman Xu Ming, who died of a heart attack in prison at the age of 44.
