The league headquarters in London also announced a donation of one million pounds to charities in Ukraine. The EFL, the umbrella organization of the three professional leagues below the premier league, joined the TV boycott for Russia. Just like the English FootballAssociation (FA) that loud BBC the contract with the Russian marketer for the games in FA Cup quit.
Yellow and blue Bundesliga logo – censored on Russian TV?
The Russian TV partner is also under observation in the Bundesliga. The enterprise match TV owns the broadcasting rights for Bundesliga matches in Russia.
On the previous match day, the German Football League (DFL) displayed the logo of the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga in the national colors of Ukraine in its basic TV signal, which is produced for license holders worldwide. As a sign of solidarity with the Ukrainian war victims.
As the “Bild” newspaper reported, replaced match TV in Russia the yellow and blue Bundesliga banner but with the logo that is otherwise used. This would be a clear case of politically motivated censorship on the part of the Russian marketer, possibly also an intervention in the exploitation of Bundesliga images that violates the contract.
DFL relies on messages of peace – also on Russian television
The DFL had already announced before the match day that it would not withdraw from the contract with Match TV for the time being. According to a DFL statement, the Bundesliga pictures should also help anti-war calls and appeals for peace from the German stadiums to reach the Russian population.
However, the prerequisite for this is “that Match TV will broadcast the basic signal provided by the DFL unchanged – including Ukraine-related messages from the league, players, clubs and fans“, emphasized the DFL. Censorship from the Russian side would have “result in extraordinary termination“.
After the report of an obvious violation by Match TV during the broadcasts last weekend, there have been no consequences at the DFL so far. According to SID information, the league association first wanted to evaluate the Russian broadcasts of the Bundesliga games on Match TV and then discuss further cooperation.
A sports show request remained unanswered until Wednesday afternoon.
DFL advises on ending cooperation with Match TV
But there are many indications that the DFL is preparing to exit marketing in Russia prematurely. The league headquarters have already announced that they will donate one million euros to aid organizations in Ukraine. The money for this should come from the contract with match TV come.
In the event that there is no license income from Russia, the DFL also announced that it would pay the donation from other funds. one wants”not benefit in the current situation from income provided for by the contract with Match TV“It was said by the DFL.
Russian DFL partner part of the Gazprom group
The relationship is additionally burdened with match TV because the station is part of the Gazprom empire. The Russian state-owned company, UEFA, has meanwhile been widely ostracized in the sports world because of its closeness to President and warlord Putin and Schalke 04 also ended their multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with Gazprom.
The DFL will probably want to end the cooperation with a Gazprom offshoot sooner rather than later.