Ludogorets vs Red Star Belgrade will see a Balkan derby in the third qualification round of the UEFA Champions League. While Ludogorets Razgrad reached the Champions League group stage in the 2014-15 season, Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European Cup Winner—predecessor of the Champions League—has never reached the group stage of the Champions League.
Red Star Belgrade last qualified for the Champions League in 2014, but the club was disqualified by UEFA due to breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations. Indeed, its finances have been the biggest problem of the Serbian giants, as Serbia’s convoluted club ownership regulations have meant that it is next to impossible for investors to put money into Serbian football.
Furthermore, the fact that the club is technically state owned, but at the same time is operated by elected officials, has turned Red Star into a hotbed of corruption in which the management has siphoned off profits made from player transfers.
New regulations, and a lavish sponsorship contract with the Russian company Gazprom, have somewhat stabilized the situation at the club, but Red Star, like their city rivals Partizan, are still forced to sell most of their promising talents to clubs from abroad.
The latest talent to leave the club has been Luka Jović, who was sold to Benfica Lisbon in the winter. The transfer is indicative of Red Star’s financial situation, as the transfer rights to the talent were sold to an investor, which meant that Red Star only received a small percentage of the amount payed.
Regardless, there is hope now that with changes to the ownership structure and further investment by Gazprom, Red Star can return to its former glory days. The club dominated the 2015-16 Serbian SuperLiga, and finished the campaign with a 14-point gap to its eternal rival Partizan.
The club, however, has since lost super talent Marko Grujić, who had been sold to Liverpool in the winter, but was loaned back to the club until the end of the season. At the same time, top scorer Aleksandar Katai has so far resisted offers from abroad, and he should be available against Ludogorets in the Champions League qualifiers—he has already scored two goals in the Champions League qualification.
Furthermore, Red Star has been able to make some interesting signings in the offseason. The most promising signings include the Costa Rican forward, John Jairo Ruiz, from LOSC Lille, the Gabonese midfielder Guélor Kanga from Rostov, and the Argentinian right-winger Pablo Mouche from the Brazilian club Palmeiras.
With the core of their championship team in tact, and with the new signings in place Red Star hope to reach the group stage of the Champions League.
Playing in 4-2-3-1 formation, Red Star, managed by Miodrag Božović, will face an opponent that already has Champions League group stage experience. In fact, Ludogorets made headlines when they beat FC Basel at home, and tied Liverpool 2-2 in the 2014-15 season.
In a time when Levski and CSKA, the big clubs from the capital Sofia are struggling, Ludogorets has successfully held up the Bulgarian flag in European club football.
Owner, Kiril Domuschiev, an outspoken CSKA Sofia fan, had long tried to invest into his favourite club, but corruption, and ownership struggles at Bulgaria’s most successful club have caused Domuschiev to invest in Ludogorets instead.
In many ways, the club has become the Shakhtar Donetsk of Bulgaria, as the club has become a prime location for Brazilians who want to make their mark in European football. The club currently has eight native Brazilians in the squad, some of whom hold Bulgarian citizenship—the club’s biggest star is Marcelinho, who now has Bulgarian citizenship and plays for the Bulgarian national team
A prominent former Ludogorets player is Schalke’s Brazilian Júnior Caiçara, who was discovered by Schalke after Ludogorets’ last Champions League group stage participation. The example of Caiçara, especially, will motivate Ludogorets’ Brazilian colony to impress in Europe, in the hope that they will make the jump to a big western competition. Furthermore, the many Brazilians and their more recent experience in the Champions League should give the Bulgarians an edge in the qualifiers against Red Star Belgrade.
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