After a period of uncertainty which saw them enter administration and evicted from their temporary home in Düsseldorf, 3.Liga club KFC Uerdingen 05 have been sold to Armenian businessman Roman Gevorkyan - whose 'Noah Company' also has stakes in Armenian club FC Noah Jerevan and the Italian third division outfit AC Noah Siena.
Last month, KFC entered administration, and only this week filed for insolvency, after coming under fire for its inability to address rent arrears of €174,000 in a very public war of words which ended with the 1985 DFB-Pokal winners being booted out of the Merkur Spiel Arena they'd been using whilst their own Grotenburg Stadion undergoes renovation. Main shareholder Mikhail Ponomarev had already announced his retirement and recently stated in an interview with SportBild that he would also sell the Traditionsverien (historic club) for "one euro". Now a solution seems to have been found for the shaky club, where several players were recently refused permission to leave during the winter transfer window.
According to the Westdeutscher Zeitung, the stadium issue has also been resolved and Stefan Krämer's side will now play at the 10,000 capacity Sportpark am Lotter Kreuz in Lotte. The move certainly makes good financial sense. KFC were due to pay €1.2 million for one season (around €63,000 per game) in Düsseldorf - but for the nine remaining home games of the season they now only need to find €200,000. "We are incredibly pleased and also proud to welcome a traditional club like KFC Uerdingen to our Noah family" said Roman Gevorkyan following his takeover. "However, we all know that the club is currently in a difficult situation. We will do everything we can to keep the Third League and secure the future of KFC Uerdingen. If we can do that, we can talk about concrete goals."