Based on discussions that started earlier this spring the boards of Badminton United (BadU) and Espoon Sulkapallo-Badminton (ESB) have decided to prepare a merger of the clubs. The final decision about the merger will be subject to the decision by the extraordinary general meetings of the clubs later this year.
While both clubs have managed to navigate through the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic reasonably well and are in a good shape in such, the possibilities to grow and develop the business of the clubs are limited with the current setup. By operating as a one larger unit however there will be enough resources to invest in management, growth, and better services for the members i.e. players. On the other hand no essential negative impacts have been identified related to merging the clubs. We believe this merger will be a win-win for all the stakeholders: players, coaches, volunteers and the whole Finnish badminton community.
An integration project team will now start planning and preparing the merger and there will be no impacts in the operations of either club for now. In case the clubs’ general meetings accept the merger, the spring 2023 will see integration of the back-office functions and systems and reforms in the training groups and other offering will be introduced in the summer of 2023 for the season 2023-24.
If you have any questions or wish to be involved in the integration process please contact any of the persons listed below.
On behalf of the boards of both clubs,
Mika Eriksson, Badminton United & Matti Mäenpää Espoon Sulkapallo-Badminton
For more information please contact:
Mika Eriksson, BadU, president, 040 343 3352, puheenjohtaja@badmintonunited.fi
Matti Mäenpää, ESB, president, 040 504 1182, matti@esb.fi
Ville Valorinta, Badminton Finland, CEO, 040 565 5412, ville.valorinta@sulkapallo.fi