World soccer continues to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This time, FIFAhas made an official statement toallow foreign players standed in Russia and Ukraine to move elsewhere for the remainder of the season.
The decision lets these players leave their clubs with immediate effect and sign for any other team in a free for the rest of the 2021-22. This will be an emergency move, though, so the players would have to return to their previous clubs after June 30 – unless they run out of contract, of course.
“Following the escalation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to an ongoing and distressing humanitarian crisis, the Bureau of the FIFA Council has decided – in coordination with UEFA and after consultation with various stakeholders – to temporarily amend the Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) in order to provide legal certainty and clarity on a number of matters,” a statement released by FIFAread. “The principles are set out in the form of a temporary annexe to the RSTP (Annexe 7) entitled “Temporary rules addressing the exceptional situation deriving from the war in Ukraine.”
FIFAopens special transfer window for foreign players in Ukraine and Russia
FIFA has suspended the contracts of all foreign players and coaches who are standed inUkraine so that they can move to another country until June 30 while the conflict continues. Meanwhile, foreign players and coaches in Russia will be allowed to unilaterally suspend their contracts for the rest of the season.In a statement, FIFA announced the following decisions.
- “Concerning the situation in Ukraine, in order to provide players and coaches with the opportunity to work and receive a salary, and to protect Ukrainian clubs, unless the parties to the relevant contract explicitly agree otherwise, all employment contracts of foreign players and coaches with clubs affiliated to the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) will be deemed automatically suspended until the end of the season in Ukraine (30 June 2022), without the need for any action from the parties to this effect.
- In order to facilitate the departure of foreign players and coaches from Russia, in the event that clubs affiliated to the Football Union of Russia (FUR) do not reach a mutual agreement with their respective foreign players and coaches before or on 10 March 2022 and unless otherwise agreed in writing, the foreign players and coaches will have the right to unilaterally suspend their employment contracts with the FUR-affiliated clubs in question until the end of the season in Russia (30 June 2022).
The suspension of a contract as per the paragraphs above will mean that players and coaches will be considered “out of contract” until 30 June 2022 and will therefore be at liberty to sign a contract with another club without facing consequences of any kind.“
The 10 most valuable foreign players in Russia
- Malcom (Brazil, Zenit) – $24.20 million
- Wilmar Barrios (Colombia, Zenit) – $22 million
- Wendel (Brazil, Zenit) – $20.90 million
- Jhon Córdoba (Colombia, Krasnodar) – $18.70million
- Douglas Santos (Brazil, Zenit) – $17.60million
- Claudinho (Brazil, Zenit) -$17.60 million
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia, Rubin Kazan) -$17.60 million
- Yusuf Yazici (Turkey, CSKA Moscow) – $16.50 million
- Sebastian Szymanski (Poland, Dinamo Moscow) – $14.30 million
- Quincy Promes (Netherlands, Spartak Moscow) – $13.20 million
The 10 most valuable foreign players in Ukraine
- Tete (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $22m
- David Neres (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $22m
- Dodo (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $22m
- Manor Solomon (Israel, Shakhtar) – $19.80m
- Pedrinho (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $18.70m
- Marlon (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $11m
- Lassina Traoré (Burkina Faso, Shakhtar) – $9.90m
- Marcos Antonio (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $8.80m
- Maycon (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $7.70m
- Alan Patrick (Brazil, Shakhtar) – $7.70m
This isthe latest of the many decisions that were made in world soccer in response to theRussian invasion of Ukraine. The 2021-22 UEFA Champions League final was removed from Saint Petersburg, while FIFA and UEFA suspended all Russian clubs and the national teamfrom their competitions.
