Russia sees foreign players stampede after Ukraine attack

A week after Russia started a war against Ukraine, defender Pablo, 30, made the decision to leave the country ruled by Vladimir Putin.

Hired by Lokomotiv Moscow in January 2021, the defender, who has worked for Corinthians and football in France, has come to see his continuity in the country as a risk amid sanctions that may directly affect the clubs’ financial capacity.

The player does not rule out that, as the armed conflict unfolds, Russia itself will be attacked by rival forces. Therefore, he entered into an agreement with the club to terminate his contract.

Pablo is not alone in his movement. Since Putin decided to invade Ukraine, on the 24th, a climate of insecurity and uncertainty began to affect athletes who play in Russian football, especially foreigners.

The war on Ukrainian soil has made Russia the target of several sanctions, including economic and sporting ones. FIFA and Uefa, for example, announced the suspension of the country’s national team and clubs from all international competitions, such as the World Cup Qualifiers and the Europa League. Punishments are indefinite.

The Russian Football Union (RFS) criticized the bodies’ decisions and said they had no legal basis. The federation promised to file a lawsuit with the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport). “Fifa and Uefa have not considered other possible options other than the complete exclusion of Russian teams,” RFS said.

Meanwhile, federations from other countries are starting to act to try to receive foreign players who want to leave Russia because of this situation. According to The Guardian, the Polish federation has already sent FIFA a letter in which it requests the opening of the transfer window for Russian football as an emergency.

The Croatian newspaper Jutarnji Lis says that the highest body of world football will have to decide within ten days on the request.

Currently, 16 Brazilians work in Russian territory. In total, there are 132 foreigners in the first division, according to the oGol website, which specializes in athlete records.

In response to a request from the players themselves, Krasnodar announced the suspension of the contract of all foreigners at the club. In a statement, the team stated that “the athletes will train on their own while their contracts are valid”. Among them are Brazilians Kaio, 26, and Wanderson, 27.

“It hasn’t been easy, but the club understood the players’ request and released some athletes for a possible loan. We talked a lot and we understand that it is the best way at this moment”, said midfielder Wanderson, who is from São Luís and left Brazil without having played at the base of a club in the country.

The athlete, who started his career in the minor categories of Ajax, from Holland, now wants to play in Brazilian football. “I’m very motivated for it.”

In addition to them, Paraguayan Júnior Alonso, ex-Atlético-MG, Norwegian Eric Bootheim, Ecuadorian Christian Ramirez, Colombian John Cordoba, Swede Victor Klasson and Frenchman Remy Cabella were released.

Krasnodar also confirmed that German coach Daniel Farke and his coaching staff had terminated their contracts with the club, by mutual agreement, before they even made their debut.

Against the German, Italian coach Paolo Vanoli, from Spartak, hired in 2021, said he will stay in the country “until the last moment, as long as there is a possibility”, as he believes that “football sends a message to the world”.

In addition to moving away from important tournaments, which are the main showcase for players to get transfers to more important markets, the financial capacity of Russian teams has also become a matter of concern.

The country’s main associations are controlled by billionaire oligarchs, who, in addition to being targets of Western economic sanctions, are seeing their fortunes affected by the devaluation of the ruble, Russia’s currency. Day by day, the financial unit of the country controlled by Putin is losing its value.

Billionaire Leonid Fedun, for example, owner of Spartak, the greatest Russian champion, with ten national titles, has already lost almost 80% of his money since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

The 22nd richest man in Russia, who is also the vice president of the oil company LUKoil and had an estimated fortune of US$ 5.72 billion (R$ 28.7 million), told Match TV that, even with the loss , will continue to fund the club.

CSKA, Zenit, Lokomotiv and Rubin, who round out the country’s top five champions, are also among the teams controlled by billionaire oligarchs linked to Putin or state-owned companies.

For Jim Riorda, professor emeritus at the University of Surrey, in England, “some billionaire oligarchs see football as a kind of veil, as a way to cleanse their immense wealth.” The researcher is the author of the article “For Russia, for money and for power”, in which he analyzes Vladimir Putin’s connections with the Russian billionaires who control the country’s soccer teams.

It is precisely because of these connections that the future of these teams on the international scene is uncertain and the stampede of foreign athletes seems inevitable.