Penza, 18 August 2015. PenzaNews. The top five players of the Penza female indoor soccer club “Laguna-UOR” left the team, this will allow young athletes to show their abilities, stated the club president Vitaly Antonov, commenting on the situation in the team during a training session, held on Tuesday, August 18.

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“Maybe this is a loss for us. But I think, we must look at the bright side. [...] We currently have the young athletes, good back-up, with whom we are working very well. Last year, the girls have become champions of the Volga District, beat everyone with 4-5 points. Therefore, we have people to count on. I believe, we shall make 2-3 position stronger, and everything will be fine,” he said.

Vitaly Antonov stressed that the transition of players from one team to another is a natural phenomenon in soccer.

“[Maria] Filisova went home to “Avrora” and [Tatiana] Deripasko left to “Torpedo-MAMI,” Yulia Titova — to the new indoor soccer team created in Ukraine. She was our top scorer. She was offerred very advantageous terms. So I think we would not have been able to keep her anyway. She warned at the beginning of the season, that she would finish it and then leave,” the president of the club pointed out.

According to him, Pavlina Borodina has decided to begin the coaching career.

“Alina Gorobets has not left yet.She had an injury. During the last game she injured her knee, had an operation, so she is still a question mark. I think she will join us in the new year,” Vitaly Antonov clarified.

He added that in the upcoming season, the team may welcome two athletes from Tyumen.

“These players are currently waiting for our invitation, call. Another week, and they will join us,” the head of the club noted.

However, he could not name the exact date of salary arrears payment to the former team captain Tatyana Deripasko, which will remove the interim measure in the form of a ban on registration of new players, applied by the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the Russian Football Union.

“In any case, we shall have to pay her the entire debt, which there is. And we will continue the game,” the president of “Laguna-UOR” informed.

Vitaly Antonov stressed that at present the club is taking steps to seek additional sources of financing, but the main costs, according to him, should be taken by the budget of the Penza region.

“We did a lot of work since the beginning of [previous] season — when they cut 40% of our budget, we wrote so many letters, carried out a great amount of work. We had one-time donations, but it's not like collecting 6 million rubles. We might raise 200-500 thousand rubles, but it is nothing compared to the amount cut. [...] This financial situation has arisen only because of the fact that the sponsors had given us the money, and then it was taken from us in arbitration courts. And we had to pay out of the new budget. Money was coming and then charged,” Vitaly Antonov explained.