The young volleyball player Nikita Marchenko at the age of 23 ended up in the professional club MSTU, which plays in the second largest division in Russia. Famous players Andrey Aschev, Taras Khtey and many others began their careers here.
However, the guy did not manage to rise after eminent colleagues. The young volleyball player died from addiction to sports betting.
The athlete lost his life due to huge debts.
“THERE WAS NOTHING»
The ambitious athlete moved from Novosibirsk to Moscow, where a team from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University offered him a five-year contract with a salary of 80-100 thousand rubles. However, the athlete did not see the desired money. The club constantly delayed salaries and sometimes completely canceled the payment from him. Players were badly saved, sometimes even being deprived of food.
– There was nothing. Nikita pulled out a Red Price gingerbread and said, “Brother, shall we have breakfast?” Two years ago, they delayed the salary for nine months – they paid only 15 thousand, so it was enough for a living wage. But I spent 8,000 just on the subway, we lived in a hostel. And how to live on five or six thousand rubles in Moscow? This is unrealistic – said a friend of the athlete.
Marchenko survived only thanks to his wife’s salary, which, however, was barely enough for both of them. For 4.5 years of the athlete’s performances, the club owed him about a million rubles.
VK MSTU
– Nikita repeatedly approached the coach with this question, to which he was constantly told: “There is no money, get out of here” or “That’s right, now, now, the person who signs the papers for the payment of salaries has broken”. Arm from him, he will sign it later, ”-said Svetlana, Marchenko’s widow.
In order to somehow improve his financial situation, the athlete began to engage in … sports betting. The search for easy money, however, only aggravated the situation: soon Nikita lost everything he had and fell into huge debt.
“NO LONGER NEED TO ATTEND»
The last straw for Nikita was the conflict with the management over the transfer: the volleyball player was invited to the Serbian team. There he was promised a solid salary, with which Marchenko could finally “get on his feet” and pay off his debts.
The contract clause did not allow the move to take place, forcing the athlete to pay a fine of 750 thousand rubles. Instead, Marchenko offered to cancel his salary debt to the club’s officials, but they strongly opposed it. In addition, Nikita was threatened with expulsion from the university!
VK MSTU
The position of the club finally deprived the guy of hope not even for a brighter future, but at least for some kind of future. On January 13, 2019, he took his own life, leaving a detailed farewell letter.
– Soon the wedding, without salary. This is where it started. I started asking for loans. And he began to bet. She was constantly gambling in hopes of raising money and closing debts. I lost everything. So now I’m on the edge and most likely you won’t see me again. They don’t pay the promised salary, they owe more than a million. This money would solve all problems, but the club management loves to cheat and steal. mental weakness? Yes. But this inhumane attitude killed me. Forgive me, all those to whom I was dear. My parents, my wife, my relatives… But I no longer have the strength to hold on,” Marchenko wrote.
The death of a young volleyball player shocked the whole country. The Russians discussed the tragedy on social media:
“It’s a shame no one was around, literally or figuratively. For such nonsense, he loses his life … These bets everywhere and everywhere drive everything sporting out of your head: honor, strength and reason.
– Condolences to the family… The volleyball guys and the Federation should think about what is happening…
– How scary to see a photo of a young man with a mourning ribbon, it hurts a lot when young people leave like this.
The best friend of the volleyball player Vladislav Dyakov blamed the team coach Yuri Nechushkin for the death of Nikita. One of the most successful players in the history of the club, Taras Khtey, immediately defended the specialist and urged “to conduct an investigation and get to the bottom of the truth”:
– You can’t put all the responsibility on the coach and the management of the club. Losses happen in sports. The country has an unstable economic situation. There must have been reasons for the delay. In volleyball this is normal. Non-payment does not mean that you should commit suicide, – said Htei.
After the incident, other former MSTU players pointed out that the history of salary delays is the norm at the Club. Nechushkin himself explained that all the problems came from the sponsors, and the team paid the volleyball players as soon as possible. In the end, neither party was held responsible for the athlete’s death.
