€277 million in transfer fees with Russian clubs - Are European football clubs immune from sanction laws?

More than four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, European clubs continue to carry out multi-million-euro transfers with Russian teams.

The deals offer Russian sides a vital financial lifeline – and hand the Kremlin a rare propaganda victory, analysts say.

FIFA under fire

• Despite the controversy around these transfers, European clubs often justify the deals by noting that they are allowed by football’s world governing body FIFA.
• FIFA and UEFA have been questioned by analysts such as Chadwick for not getting tougher with Russian football since the full-scale invasion started.
• Although Russian clubs and national teams have been barred from international competitions, the country’s football association remains represented in the administrative bodies of UEFA and FIFA.
• Most Russian representatives at UEFA were re-appointed in 2023, months after the international community had condemned the killing of hundreds of Ukrainians in the town of Bucha. Meanwhile, Russian officials at FIFA were re-appointed last year.

Show me the money

• European football clubs have done substantial transfer business with Russian sides since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched in February 2022. More than €277 million in transfer fees has changed hands.
• French teams were responsible for the most lucrative deals, having conducted transfers worth more than €62 million with their Russian counterparts. In terms of numbers of transfers, clubs in Bulgaria and Portugal topped the charts. 
• In terms of individual clubs, Greece’s AEK Athens earned the most from dealings with Russian sides, selling two players for more than €22 million.

Why does it matter?

• The Kremlin benefits from transfers between European and Russian sides, according to analysts.
• Firstly, the transfer fees provide a crucial financial lifeline.
• Secondly, such deals help the government to convey the message – at home and abroad – that it is business as usual despite the war in Ukraine.
• Many Russian club owners and directors have been sanctioned by the EU, the U.K. or the U.S. Several are also directly or indirectly connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
• Many of the transfers analysed by Follow the Money in previous reporting have potentially breached EU sanctions.

How was this investigated?

• Follow the Money analysed all international transfers to and from Russian clubs since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

• Information on players, clubs, and transfer fees was sourced from the football database Transfermarkt.

Sources

• https://tinyurl.com/25vekzv2
• https://www.ftm.eu/articles/these-are-the-top-european-football-clubs-doing-deals-with-russia-in-wartime?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebuttonnietleden&utm_source=linkbutton&share=TxP8Y4v%2BRegPIoGvCButZzVQANecjaafA5MVpnxy9E5rP%2Bpowa0yka85Ev%2BHmH0%3D