After leaving the Slovak national team, Francesco Calzona reacted sharply to the official communication of the Slovak Football Association.
The Italian coach rejected claims that negotiations broke down because the offer of a two-year contract was not enough for him.
According to him, the real problem was completely different – in the lack of vision for the development of Slovak football, especially the youth categories.
“That is not true. I am surprised that the spokesman Juraj Čurný announced it in this way. He was not even present at the meeting,” declared Calzona for Denník Šport.
He added that after negotiations with SFZ vice president Karol Belaník, they agreed on what position they would take towards the media.
“As soon as I left the meeting, they started writing me messages to change my position, but I refused and demanded that they respect the agreement. However, SFZ communicated differently, so I think it is right to clarify things,” said the former national team coach.
According to him, Marek Hamšík, who was present at the meeting, can also confirm the progress of the negotiations.
Calzona claims he was offered a two-year contract with no systemic commitments towards the development of youth football. He considered this to be a fundamental problem.
“Karol Belaník offered me a two-year contract without obligations to improve the functioning of youth football, because the association has economic difficulties. I refused it because it is the right time to change the organization, as the Slovak youth sector is going through a difficult period,” he explained.
According to Calzona, it was necessary to shift more funds towards youth, even at the cost of limiting the budget of the senior national team.
“Our national teams between the ages of 15 and 19 need more training camps and matches. I did not reject the offer because of the length of the contract, but because of the lack of a clear development philosophy,” he emphasized.
At the same time, he admitted disappointment with the behavior of officials after the meeting. “I am sorry that Karol Belaník said something different than we agreed. He was not professional and did not show me any respect,” he said.
When asked why, according to him, SFZ changed its communication, he answered openly. “I think that SFZ was afraid that they would not come out well from this media situation.”
At the same time, he denied the speculations of the Italian media, according to which his end should have been decided earlier. “I left after the last meeting,” he added.
Calzona claims that he is not leaving Slovakia bitter. “No, I’m calm. I did what I thought was right. I could have signed a two-year contract without worrying about the future, but that’s not in my nature,” he declared.
At the same time, he excluded the president of the SFZ, Ján Kováčik, from the whole situation. “I’m not disappointed in him, he played no part in this matter.”
However, the harshest words came when the question of relations within the union was asked. Calzona accused the implementation team of the under-21 national team under the leadership of Jaroslav Kentoš of secretly watching the training sessions of the A-team.
“The biggest disappointment was finding out that coach Kentoš’s team was secretly filming our training sessions behind closed doors in Senc on days when we were preparing offensive and defensive plans. It was a blow I couldn’t bear,” he said.
According to the former coach of the national team, he also never received an apology. “They were supposed to be the first assistants of the A, but instead they turned out to be poor people,” added Calzona.
His words thus indicate that behind the breakup was not only a dispute over a new contract, but also deeper disagreements about the functioning of Slovak football and strained relations within the union.
