In addition to harming these two nations’ economies, the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, which started in February of this year, also affects the rest of the globe. Football is the same.
On February 24, the Russians invaded the neighbouring nation, and since then, normal day-to-day operations have been halted there. The biggest body in world football, FIFA, then let players who had signed contracts with clubs from both countries to breach them and join other clubs.
The question is, who will foot the cost for the harm that this circumstance has caused to Ukrainian teams?
Shakhtar sues FIFA in sports court
One of the greatest clubs in Ukraine, Shakhtar Donetsk, filed a complaint against FIFA at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the highest level of sports justice in the world, on July 20.
The largest organization in world soccer gave players employed in both Russia and Ukraine permission to postpone their contracts with current clubs in order to join with other teams – from other nations – until June 30, 2023.
Up until the middle of the next year, players may only join on loan with clubs from other nations since their contracts have not been completely dissolved. For instance, Shakhtar-born Pedrinho was briefly sent to Atlético-MG.
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Reason for Shakhtar’s lawsuit
FIFA made this judgement with player safety in mind, but Shakhtar, whose roster includes 14 foreign players, were incensed by the punishment.
This is so that the club could sell the players and lessen the financial harm brought on by the conflict. The club had several negotiations going on at the time. As a result of this action, several players have already quickly agreed to loan deals with other teams and left the team with no power of decision.
`Shakhtar CEO was in trouble
“Because of FIFA’s decision, Shakhtar lost the opportunity to transfer four foreign players for a total amount of 50 million euros. It’s a great shame, FIFA doesn’t care about us,” Sergei Palkin, Shakhtar’s CEO, said on social media.
“How is it possible to give me a week to close deals with 14 foreign players? When you’re dealing with clubs, players and people, it’s impossible to do all that in a week. When FIFA issued the decision, in two days, we lost direct agreements of at least 26 million euros”, added the official.
Brazilians who benefited from FIFA’s action
Check out the Brazilian players from Shakhtar who were loaned to other teams as a result of FIFA’s action in the table below. Except for Maycon, who has a December 2023 expiration date, all agreements are valid until June 30 of that year.
Player |
Position |
Transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Marquinhos Cipriano | Lateral-esquerdo | Cruzeiro |
| Vinícius Tobias | Lateral-direito | Real Madrid Castilla (ESP) |
| Vitão | Zagueiro | Internacional |
| Maycon | Volante | Corinthians |
| Pedrinho | Meia-atacante | Atlético-MG |
| Tetê | Meia-atacante | Lyon (FRA) |
Others who are and were in the cast
Ex-Fluminense defender Marlon and left-back Ismaily, who was selected by coach Tite for the national team in 2018, are still under contract with the Ukrainian club and have not yet made any announcements about their future plans.
FIFA had previously allowed players who had been in Ukraine and Russia immediately after the crisis began to join other teams until June of this year; the new regulation just extended the deadline.
Brazilian players made up a larger portion of the Shakhtar team at that time. See the list below to learn more about these players’ past careers and where they went.
- Alan Patrick (midfielder): went to Internacional;
- David Neres (attacking midfielder): went to Benfica, from Portugal;
- Dodô (right-back): went to Fiorentina, Italy;
- Fernando (attacking midfielder): went to Red Bull Salzburg, from Austria;
- Júnior Moraes (striker): went to Corinthians;
- Marcos Antônio (steering wheel): went to Lazio, from Italy.
