Is FC Slutsk the world's most popular team right now?

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The Vysshaya Liga (1st tier) in Belarus is the only professional league in Europe to keep playing matches despite the pandemic. The league managed to attract many supporters from around the world as many football fans are simply desperate to watch some football. Countries such as Russia, Israel, India and nine other countries bought rights to air the matches. 

Slutsk supporters cheer on their team in a match against Slavia Mozyr
Source: Quatto Tre Tre


Many fans in particular started supporting FC Slutsk, as Australian football fan Shane Robinson created a Facebook group "FK Slutsk Worldwide" which currently has over 6,000 members. Some fans picked FC Slutsk due to people liking the name of the club as Robinson adds that "With the name it created a bit of laughter, so we went, that'll do, we'll go with that''. Robinson admits that he didn't think that the group would become as big as it became and started it as "a bit of banter" and originally all of the group members were from Australia. Within a couple days the group gained over 1,000 members and attracted fans from New Zealand, America, the UK, Belarus, and Russia to name a few. One of the group members Andy Bajana from New York wrote a song about Slutsk which is even played before and after Slutsk games. 


FK Slutsk Worldwide Facebook group
Source: FK Slutsk Worldwide


Slutsk is a town of 61,000 inhabitants located 105km south of the capital Minsk. FC Slutsk was formed in 1998 and was created for the workers of the city's sugar plantation. Despite beginning as an amateur team, Slutsk were climbing the division ladder and got promoted to the Belarusian Premier League after winning the the 2nd tier league in 2013. After reaching the Belarusian Premier League in 2014, Slutsk have stayed up ever since. Their best season was in 2017 when they finished in 8th place.

The Slutsk City Stadium from above which holds 1,896 seats
Source: Play Maker Stats


The team itself came into contact with members of the "FK Slutsk Worldwide" group with some players even joining the group. The main sponsor for the club is a state run sugar company. FC Slutsk however is having financial issues as the club president Vitaly Bunas states that "the club's finances are catastrophic". A major reason for their financial difficulties is that the factory director is in prison due to a corruption conviction. Four of the Facebook group members created a GoFundMe and have so far raised over 4000 dollars to help Slutsk.


Slutsk have had a surprisingly good start to the season as they are currently top of the league with 16 points and have won three games in a row. When Slutsk midfielder Dramane Salou scored against Dinamo Minsk, the whole team celebrated the goal by depicting a kangaroo jump to thank their new Australian supporters. Perhaps the whole world rooting for Slutsk has helped with their early success this season.

Dramane Salou's goal with the kangaroo celebration starting at 0:28
Source: Belarus Premier League YouTube Channel




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