The Red Star players showed up to warm up for the game in Valencia on Thursday with shirts that read: "Free Paco."
It was the protest of the Red Star Belgrade club against the Euroleague that does not allow the Argentine star Facundo Campaso to play in the factory after he signed with the team two and a half weeks ago.
This is a kind of telenovela.
It was the transfer of the season in European basketball but the thing is that after it was signed, it doesn't materialize.
The story of European basketball is the "Campaso case".
The Argentinian center back is not allowed to play due to a Euroleague ban on the club signing new players due to the team's debts to past players.
This created an absurd situation where a player who is supposed to earn huge sums in terms of the Red Star and aroused huge expectations is sitting outside and it is still not known when he will be able to get on the floor.
The Red Star surprised everyone when they signed the center released by Dallas.
It was estimated that a player of this caliber would land in Real Madrid where he played or in another big and rich club.
The Serbian team - not a top team in the Euroleague - and a team whose resources are limited, put their hands on him with a contract that had never been in the team, about 4 million euros for two years.
The combination between him and his Argentina teammate Luca Vildoza ignited the imagination.
Campasso in a Real Madrid uniform against Maccabi in 2020.
Missed Europe, photo: EPA
The punishment (ban on signing new players) was even before his arrival, but the player signed knowing that he was about to end.
Then came the decision that not only did the ban not end, but it was extended by almost two months.
According to the calculation, if the punishment is implemented in full, Campasso will miss 10 Euroleague games since he signed.
For now he only plays in the Adriatic League.
In response, the red star as a concoction.
The group's president, Naboisha Chuvitch, says that the debts were already settled at the end of last month.
He claims unfairness and great deprivation in the decision and the effect of preventing the signing of another player.
This went as far as the players' protest before the game with Valencia, during which the player was seen sitting outside on the citizens with a face that said it all.
There is a conflict here between the marketing interest of the Euroleague that such a player will play and add a lot of interest and the need to send a firm message to the teams that there is no tolerance for financial debts and faulty financial conduct.
The big question is whether the Red Star acted irresponsibly when signing a player of this magnitude or is it disadvantaged.
Meanwhile, the one who was hurt the most is the actor who said: "I'm tired and sad from this whole situation.
All I ask is to let me play.'
This decision against the star was made by the "Independent Financial Panel of the EuroLeague".
Now the ball is in the hands of the new Euroleague CEO Marshall Glickman who is supposed to rule: canceling the penalty or leaving it intact.
Despite the lack of Camposo and the injury of Vildoza, the team continues to win.
Red Star coach Dusko Ivanovich commented on the story and said: "It's a big shame for everyone.
Not only for the Red Star, but for everyone who watches the Euroleague, people want to see the best players play on the field.'
In the meantime we are left with a big flop: a team makes its biggest transfer ever, for the highest sums, brings in a superstar who is a tie-breaker and he can't play.
The fans of the Red Star are waiting for him, the basketball fans are waiting for Barak and the interest he will add to the Euroleague, but in the meantime "Pako" is sitting outside eating himself.
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