Football is not the only sufferer of the economic slowdown, as even volleyball clubs are now sharing the hardship. Unlike the football clubs that need dozens of billions of dong in order to operate each season, volleyball teams only need VND3 to 5 billion (US$143,000-240,000) per year, but even that modest sum is hard to mobilize amid these hard times, insiders said. The evidence of problems for the sponsorship-stricken volleyball industry can be best observed from the ongoing National Volleyball Championship 2012 co-hosted by Ho Chi Minh City and Buon Ma Thuot. “I can feel the difficulties in the sponsorship attraction of the event’s organizers as well as the participants,” said Nguyen Ba Nghi, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Volleyball Federation. The HCMC organizers said they have in fact encountered difficulties in mobilizing money to host the event at the Rach Mieu venue in Phu Nhuan District. “We could only attract funding by selling ad banners at the venue,” said Nguyen Quoc Phuc, deputy director of Phu Nhuan Sporting Center. “But three out of the ten sold banners were bought by the main sponsor, Maseco,” he added. One of the participants, the Pacific Pertro Construction & Installtion Corporation (PPC) club, meanwhile, has had to lower the players’ cash bonuses, although their salaries are luckily maintained, said coach Tran Minh Khang. Another contender is Duc Long Gia Lai, which is known as the “Chelsea of Vietnamese volleyball” thanks to its boss Bui Phap, who sunk enormous amounts of money into buying several stars for his club. The club has repeatedly delayed the wage payments, its players said. Coach Bui Quang Ngoc, however, said the company has reached agreement with the players to only pay 60 percent of their wages from January to September, and the remaining will be covered by the end of this year. Other clubs also said they have had to tighten their belts to be able to maintain operations amid the crisis.
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