Slavia Prague fans fear for future after Chinese investment backfires

As Slavia prepare for Tuesday’s return leg of their Champions League third qualifying round at Dynamo Kyiv, their rags to riches tale looks to be unravelling

Slavia Prague’s first title in a decade forced even the most cynical supporters to admit that perhaps the club’s mysterious Chinese owners were not such a bad lot after all. A year later, and as the club are preparing for the Champions League return leg of their qualifier against Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday, fans are free again to exercise the extraordinary Czech talent for scepticism as Beijing dismantles CEFC China Energy.

Questions over Chinese investment in European football clubs have multiplied since a clampdown in the country last year on capital flowing to such outposts. Slavia’s tale of rags to riches and potentially back again will not stifle that concern.

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