Maribor Branik, which has produced top skiers of the likes of Olympic bronze medallist Katja Koren, entered receivership on Tuesday after struggling with liquidity problems for years.

Operating for almost a century, the once biggest and most important ski club in the country has taught thousands of children how to ski, the Maribor-based daily Večer writes in today's edition.

It says that its financial woes worsened with the collapse of ŠC Pohorje, the company operating the ski lifts and hotels on the slopes above Maribor which Branik incorporated in 1994.

Branik has been in a debt settlement procedure since 2014 when it transpired the club had a debt of EUR 1.7m, plus EUR 19.1m in guarantees for loans for ŠC Pohorje.

Its debt and guarantees have now ended up with the Bank Asset Management Company, Slovenia's bad bank.

Nevertheless, the paper quotes the spokesman for the Golden Fox competition, Uroš Mencinger, who says the administration will not jeopardise the annual World Cup meet in Maribor.

"Receivership is in fact a relief. There's no problem because the competition is awarded to Slovenia. The International Ski Federation cares little about the club's name, it's people, location and tradition which matter," says Mencinger, indicating the club could continue to organise the meet under a different name.