Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine also affects football. Because of a Fifa decision, a Ukrainian club now wants to claim damages.
The Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk is demanding 50 million euros in damages from the world association Fifa. The club is said to have appealed a decision by Fifa to the Cas Sports Court, as “The Athletic” reported on Monday.
Sports director Darijo Srna had already announced in an interview with t-online that he wanted to take this step. In the course of the Russian war of aggression, Fifa introduced a rule according to which players from Ukrainian clubs can unilaterally suspend their contracts until the summer of 2023 if they are not handed over for a fee by June 30th.
Srna said: “Fifa’s transfer policy is not right at all. It makes us lose an entire team.” The club is said to have lost 50 million euros. Donetsk is now also demanding this sum in the lawsuit from Fifa. “We don’t ask FIFA for any compensation or other handouts. All we want is that we can decide about their future together with the players who are under contract with us.” (Read more about this here.)
Football operations in Ukraine are suspended
Shakhtar, which has only played its home games in other cities since 2014 due to the war in eastern Ukraine, had 14 foreign players under contract. According to the report, Shakhtar wanted to sell his foreign players in order to generate funds because the Russian invasion had already reduced income massively.
Football has been suspended in Ukraine since the Russian attack on February 24.