Vitalii Kvartsianyi: "There were 40 criminal brigades in Lutsk, but I had no problems with them"

Vitalii Kvartsianyi, a well-known Ukrainian coach, spoke about the turbulent 90s when he coached Volyn.

- Did you have any contact with criminals in the wild 90s?

- There were 40 criminal brigades in Lutsk, but I had no problems with them. They were always hanging out at Warsaw Market. All organisations paid them tribute. All over Ukraine, stadiums were given to criminals as markets, except for Lutsk. In our city, it was the other way round - the mafia drove away the traders so that people would go to football. Lutsk's criminals loved football and helped FC Volyn.

- For example.

- They once helped bring some players to FC Volyn using their power and influence. We managed to make about five transfers that way. They did not charge us a single penny for their services. We only gave them a cafe for parties.

Sometimes we made fake football season tickets, and the gangsters helped to distribute them. For example, the stadium can accommodate 15,000 fans, and we issued 25,000 season tickets, and they delivered them to factories, kiosks, and farms. Then they brought us a bag of money, which FC Volyn really needed at the time. That was the time, and we had to scramble to keep the club afloat.

Andrii Piskun