Stadium owner wants to buy football club Vitesse from Russian businessman

Michael van de Kuit, the owner of the GelreDome stadium, wants to buy football club Vitesse from Russian owner Valeri Oyf. He put the Arnhem club up for sale because of the war and Ukraine and the immense international pressure on Russian entrepreneurs, De Gelderlander reports.

Van de Kuit (52) is the owner and director of the Nedstede Groep, a real estate firm with properties in Amsterdam, Het Gooi, Arnhem, and Ibiza. He's owned the GelreDome Stadium since 2018. He is now waiting for information from Vitesse, Van de Kuit said to the newspaper. "So that we can form an opinion about the financial position of the club and the possibilities and impossibilities of a purchase. I want to take over Vitesse. See if I can make the club healthy."

Vitesse has been in foreign hands since 2010. According to the newspaper, the club faces an annual budget deficit of 10 to 15 million euros. The club also has about 132 million euros in debt. 

Pascal van Wijk, general manager at Vitesse, told De Gelderlander that there is "quite some interest" in the takeover but would not name names. He said that the club's debt would be included in the negotiations for the sale. "That seems logical to me. We do not yet know whether that debt will also be taken over. That's getting ahead of things."

Oyf and Vitesse set two more conditions for the sale. "The continuity of the club must be guaranteed," Van Wijk said. "And we must continue to fulfill our sporting ambitions."