“Following the Autumn of Nations in 1989, many of the football leagues in Central and Eastern Europe went through revolutions of their own. The main leagues of Czechoslovakia split to form two new leagues in the newly independent Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Soviet Supreme League was disbanded and new championships were formed in the former Soviet Republics. The likes of Dynamo Kiev, Dinamo Minsk, Dinamo Tbilisi and Neftchi Baku were no longer faced with long trips to Moscow or St Petersburg and the perceived bias in favour of the Russian teams. Instead they were founder members of new competitions in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia and Azerbaijan respectively. Whilst Hungary, Poland and initially Yugoslavia remained sovereign states, even their leagues were hugely affected by the collapse of communism, with many teams no longer able to rely on the State for their budget, recruitment and influence.” In Bed With Maradoma