As a sports manager, he was behind the success of Banská Bystrica. During his tenure, the club enjoyed a championship hat-trick. The Bansko Bystrica team is also the last Slovak representative to score points in the hockey Champions League. Neither Slovan nor Košice could do it in the past years. Instead of Slovakia, the organizers offered the place in the club competition to the Poles, who gladly accepted it.
Photo: HK Poprad
Poprad ice hockey players in front of home fans.
Julius Koval (33) became the sports director of Poprad ice hockey players last year. Popradčani shot up from 11th place and finally became the winners of the regular season.
However, in the first round of the playoffs, they were unexpectedly eliminated by Nitra, which later won the championship.
Among other things, the head of HK Poprad openly commented on the rising salaries of Slovaks in the extra league.
What most significantly affects the salaries of Slovak hockey players in the extra league?
Number of legionnaires. Since their clubs can have a maximum of seven in their squad, they have to go for quality. There is no room for error. Everyone has to maximize their efforts to hit the mark. Everyone wants to have the best legionnaires in the team.
Managers care about this because it is difficult to get a difference player during the season. As for the salaries of Slovak hockey players themselves, if they have a rising curve like they have been, I don’t know where it will end.
I see it as a big problem. I will give an example. The salary of a hockey player who played in our third formation went up by one hundred percent. It is an exclamation mark for all of us who play hockey. Some Slovak teams are slowly approaching the salaries of players in Russia.
Are you implying that clubs overpay Slovak players?
I wouldn’t say that. Each club pays what it has to. If they have room in the budget, they will pay the player adequately to their capabilities. Some may call it overpaying, but I see it as business.
Photo: HK Poprad
julius koval with his family Július Koval with his family.
Bigger clubs have more money, others have less. Everyone has to work with what they have. There are few quality Slovaks on the market, and their price is therefore skyrocketing from year to year. Clubs are understandably fighting over them.
Did you increase your budget before the new season?
We did not take such a step. We are working with what we had available last year as well.
Recently, the topic of replacing Slovak clubs in the Champions League with teams from Poland resonated. How do you perceive it from the position of the former manager of the club, who was the last among the Slovak representatives to score in the international competition?
Both Slovan and Košice were close to scoring in the Champions League several times in the last three years. It’s a shame they didn’t make it. It is not a pleasant statistic or a business card for our hockey. It is sad that we currently do not have a representative in the Champions League.
I am of the opinion that the Polish league is a level far below the Slovak extra league. When we were recently at the tournament in Auschwitz, they played three fives made up of Swedes and Finns, they had maybe two Poles in the fourth five.
It’s hard to talk about their league, since almost only foreigners play there. Nevertheless, they do not reach the level that they managed to build in the extra league.
The representatives of the clubs do not agree with the management of the SZĽH on the question of play-offs and direct relegation. What is your position on this topic?
The interests of the clubs could be taken into account more. Especially if three quarters of them say they want a playoff. It is the clubs that create top hockey in Slovakia. We know very well that the I. League is far behind what we need for our sport to progress.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
