Cibona players go on a strike for unpaid salaries, might miss a game / News - Basketnews.com

Some Cibona players have received only a month's worth of salary this season. As a result, players and coaches did not practice on Wednesday. The club should receive payments from the City of Zagreb in the upcoming month that would cover at least some part of the debt.

Credit: Cibona/Marin Susic Credit Cibona/Marin Susic

The longstanding monetary issues in the Cibona Zagreb organization have caused a rebellion from its players.

According to Petar Zobec from Croatian news outlet Germanijak, the club's players have gone on strike.

The organization has been having a hard time paying salaries to its employees this season. As reported earlier, some of the club's players hadn't been paid at all just a month ago.

The two sides had agreed that the issue would be solved in the months of February and March, Zobec writes. However, the journalist notes, only one month's salary was paid out, and it came in two installments.

As a result, both the players and the coaching staff did not practice on Wednesday as a form of protest against the current situation.

There is currently no guarantee that the roster will travel to Slovenia for their next ABA League game against Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana on Saturday.

However, it may not be as bleak, Zobec writes. The club is waiting for money to come from the City of Zagreb. It should be deposited at the end of March or in early April, which would allow the club to pay at least part of the players' salaries.

The legendary club has a serious amount of debt on its hand. Asreported during the summer, Cibona has accumulated debts of around €5,000,000. Former player of the club and current Croatian national team coachAleksandar Petroviceven did a fundraiser to help and save the team.

Cibona have four outstanding cases in FIBA's Basketball Arbitral Tribunal against players just this last season - Donatas Sabeckis (€30,000 in salary), Luka Zoric (€35,000), Fran Pilepic (€9818), and Roberto Kovac (€7042).

With 8 wins and 13 losses, Cibona are currently 10th in the ABA League, 2 wins away from the 8th spot that would guarantee a place in the playoffs. There are 5 games left in the competition.

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