Football clubs are allowed to register up to two additional players from Russian or Ukrainian clubs in the remaining matches of the European Cup competitions. This was decided by the Executive Committee of the European Football Union.
The association was thus reacting to a decision by world governing body FIFA, which two weeks ago opened an extraordinary transfer window for foreign players and coaches in Russian and Ukrainian clubs.
After that, contracts with clubs in Ukraine are automatically suspended, those with clubs in Russia can be unilaterally suspended by the players. Both are valid until the end of the season on June 30th. The suspension of a contract means “that players and coaches are considered to be without a contract until June 30, 2022 and are therefore free to sign a contract with another club without any consequences,” FIFA said. At the same time, it was determined that this change period applies up to and including April 7th and that a club can sign a maximum of two players who fall under this exception.
UEFA has now ruled that a club can use these players in the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League if they are registered by April 1st. The same applies to the women’s Champions League, where the additional players must be registered by April 7th.
With the extraordinary transfer period, FIFA reacted to the situation of foreign players after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. World governing body and UEFA had previously excluded all Russian teams from international competitions. Football has been suspended in Ukraine since the beginning of the war.