Vanna Ly (English)

Z Historia Wisły

Temporary co-owner of Wisła Kraków between 22 December 2018 and 2 January 2019.

Vanna Ly is allegedly a French businessman of Cambodian origin, owner of Alelega Luxembourg S.à r.l. On 18 December 2018 a deal has been sign in Zurich for the sale of Wisła Kraków football club to Alelega and Noble Capital Partners. On 21 December 2018 Wanna Ly was present in Krakow for a league match against Lech Poznań, he met with the players and staff members. During this meeting he was supposedly confirming that new owners would guarantee stability to the club that was in financial struggle. Media also announced that the team would go on a winter camp to Turkey, to a hotel owned by Ly.

On 22 December 2018 it has been officially announced that Alelega became the owner of 60% of Wisła shares, with the remaining 40% belonging now to British company Noble Capital Partners Ltd. The deal was however conditional and it was supposed to take full effect upon a transfer of 12 mln zlotys into Wisła’s account (the funds were to be used to pay urgent debts). In the same time Wisła’s share certificates have been physically handed over to Vanna Ly. On the same day a meeting took place between Vanna Ly, Mats Hartling (representing NCP) and Adam Pietrowski on the one hand and Jacek Majchrowski, president of the city of Krakow, on the other. The discussion focused on investment plans of the new owners, which included hotels, football academy and other estates.

Until 29 December 2018 the transfer, which was one of the conditions of the sale, has not reached Wisła’s account. On the same day Mats Hartling issued a statement confirming that Vanna Ly was supposed to submit the transfer instruction by 28 December. In the same time Hartling was informing that there are difficulties in communication with Vanna Ly due to him travelling. On the following day Wisła Kraków football club issued a statement advising that Vanna Ly has fallen ill during a flight to US. In the next days rumors about him having a heart attack emerged.

In view of the above events Wisła Kraków Sports Association announced on 2 January 2019 that the conditional sale of the football club has been cancelled and the club is once again owned by the Association.

On 5 January 2019, in an interview with Sport.pl, Mats Hartling using strong words blamed Vanna Ly for the whole situation, calling him a fraudster an announcing that he would take legal action against Ly.

Vanna Ly caused a lot of controversy, in the first place due to lack of reliable sources able to confirm his wealth or previous business endeavors. He was allegedly interested few months earlier in buying Italian Genoa Football Club and investing in a sea port there, these plans never materialized. Other available sources indicated that Ly is associated with a catholic parish in Presqu'île Sud in France and that few years earlier he was involved in a construction of a library in Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Many sarcastic comments in the media were caused by Ly’s behavior in Kraków when he was hiding his face from the journalists behind an umbrella, including inside the city hall.