President of FC Metalist Kharkiv Oleksandr Yaroslavsky has said that if the club's stadium is transferred to city ownership, he will stop financing the team.

"To tell the truth, I'm not monitoring what decisions are taken by the city council, and what it is asking for. I've been engaged in the reconstruction of the stadium for over five years, and I invested my own funds in it. How could I act in response to the actions of officials? If all this does not stop, I'll just stop funding FC Metalist," he told the Championat.com online sports newspaper on Thursday.

On December 20, Metalist was drawn against England's Newcastle in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

"I'm personally pleased with the result of the draw. Metalist can compete with such teams as Newcastle, although it represents such a strong European championship as the English Premier League. They have good players, but they are now only in 15th place in their championship and are now not far from the relegation zone. I definitely believe that we have to defeat such an opponent and win through to the last 16 of the Europa League, if we are not prevented by a rat race organized by Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes," Yaroslavsky said.

As reported, on December 19, Kharkiv City Council deputies supported an appeal to Kharkiv Regional Council to transfer the Metalist Stadium to the ownership of the city.

The Metalist president was the general investor and coordinator of Kharkiv's preparations for Euro 2012, having invested his own money in the Metalist Stadium, a five-star hotel, the city airport, and other projects.