Oct 7, 2026 · 25 min · 9 segments
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western governments tried to stop business as usual with Russia. In football, the country was banned from major international competitions. But the…
Before we talk more about this issue, good to take a little bit of a step back.
Like, uh, Russian national football team was not able to participate in, uh, qualifying matches for the Euro Cup and the World Cup and stuff like that.
And the football teams were excluded from, uh, banned from, uh, like the Champions League and the Europa League.
Uh, all the big matches, the big money-making matches and competitions, so they were excluded from that.
And sanctions list came along with lots of people from the inner circle of Vladimir Putin, the oligarchs, because they were part of the power structure.
And Russian football Is partially owned by state-owned or state-linked, uh, entities, and oligarchs are involved.
So yeah, the sanctions hit those oligarchs and enterprises, and so those clubs were exposed to sanctions as well.
And, uh, if the owner is, uh, like more than 50%, that club is sanctioned as well.
if that, that club is owned by, uh, by, by that, uh, sanctioned oligarch, then that club is sanction-sanctioned too, so you cannot do any business with it.
... to the state, which indirectly leads to them having a role in financing the war in Ukraine.
Yeah, financing, uh, supplying, uh, with, with f- fuels for the Russian military, stuff like that.
So sanctions apply to the transfer of football players if the owner of the club is listed-
Before we talk more about this issue, good to take a little bit of a step back.
Like, uh, Russian national football team was not able to participate in, uh, qualifying matches for the Euro Cup and the World Cup and stuff like that.
And the football teams were excluded from, uh, banned from, uh, like the Champions League and the Europa League.
Uh, all the big matches, the big money-making matches and competitions, so they were excluded from that.
And sanctions list came along with lots of people from the inner circle of Vladimir Putin, the oligarchs, because they were part of the power structure.
And Russian football Is partially owned by state-owned or state-linked, uh, entities, and oligarchs are involved.
So yeah, the sanctions hit those oligarchs and enterprises, and so those clubs were exposed to sanctions as well.
And, uh, if the owner is, uh, like more than 50%, that club is sanctioned as well.
if that, that club is owned by, uh, by, by that, uh, sanctioned oligarch, then that club is sanction-sanctioned too, so you cannot do any business with it.
... to the state, which indirectly leads to them having a role in financing the war in Ukraine.
Yeah, financing, uh, supplying, uh, with, with f- fuels for the Russian military, stuff like that.
So sanctions apply to the transfer of football players if the owner of the club is listed-
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