The manager’s quit as he faces FOUR YEARS IN PRISON and his ex-director brother has FLED to a five-star hotel in Bosnia in £13m transfer cash row: Dinamo Zagreb are in CHAOS before Tottenham visit this week
- Dinamo Zagreb are in disarray just two days ahead of their game against Spurs
- Their manager has quit after being sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison
- His brother, an ex-director, fled to Bosnia after being handed six years himself
- Brothers, as well as two others, were found guilty of embezzlement of £13m
Tottenham travel to Dinamo Zagreb this week with their Europa League opponents in crisis and their manager having quit while facing a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for fraud.
Spurs are 2-0 up from the first leg, but Zagreb have more pressing matters ahead of the match with their now-ex manager and his director brother embroiled in a £13million embezzlement case.
Just days ahead of the game and with Spurs due to fly to Croatia tomorrow, Zagreb manager Zoran Mamic has resigned after being sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for siphoning £13.4million from player transfers out of the club.
Zoran Mamic has quit Dinamo Zagreb after being sentenced to over four years in prison
His brother, Zdravko Mamic, has fled to Bosnia and held a press conference at a five-star hotel
Mamic’s brother Zdravko, meanwhile, a former executive director at the club, is wanted by police in neighbouring Bosnia after fleeing to a five-star hotel across the border, where he held a press conference on Tuesday lunchtime.
He has been sentenced to six-and-a-half years for his part in the crime, but is incredibly still at large as the police look to bring him into custody to begin his jail time.
Speaking after the verdict, Zoran Mamic explained his decision to resign as coach: ‘Although I don’t feel guilty, I resign as I said before I would do if the sentence was confirmed. I wish all the good luck to the club.’
News of the Mamic brothers’ convictions – as well as three years and two months for former tax official Milan Pernar and three years for Damir Vrbanovic, another ex-director – throws Dinamo Zagreb’s season into disarray.
They are currently top of the league by two points and are still in with a chance of making it through in the Europa League, but the rest of the season will now take place under a dark cloud.
The conviction of Zagreb’s now-former boss and his brother, as well as the two other men, surrounds the siphoning of over £13m from the club over a number of years.
Dinamo play Tottenham in the second leg of their last-16 Europa League tie on Thursday
The Croatian side confirmed their former player Damir Krznar will replace Mamic as manager
One example of the fraud for which the four men were convicted details an incident in 2011, in which they falsely stated that a player was entitled to half of the transfer fee that the club received for his move away from the club.
It is then alleged that the money was paid from the club’s account to the player’s account, only for the player to then forward the money to another of the defendants.
Former player Damir Krznar has been appointed as the man to take over the team and attempt to lead them through a difficult period off the pitch, with his immediate focus on Spurs this Thursday.