UEFA has paid over €10,8 million in “solidarity” payments to Russian football clubs, despite their ban from European competitions following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. About this write The Guardian.
At the same time, five Ukrainian teams did not receive similar funds, allegedly due to their location in a "war zone."
According to official data, in the 2022–23 season, the Russian Football Association received €3,305 million, in 2023–24 – €3,381 million, and in 2024–25 – another €4,224 million. In 2021–22, the payment amounted to €6,209 million. The federation must transfer these funds to the clubs.
Meanwhile, Chornomorets (Odesa), Real Pharma (Odesa), IFC Metalurh (Zaporizhia), FSC Phoenix (Mariupol) and Metalist 1925 (Kharkiv) were left without payments for 2023–24 and 2024–25. In a letter to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, they stated that the reason was “non-transparent requirements of the Swiss bank” due to their location in a “war zone”, although Odesa and Kharkiv are not occupied.
The clubs stressed that any financial assistance during the war is critical to their survival, and criticized UEFA for lacking a clear legal basis for blocking payments.
UEFA declined to comment. Meanwhile, Russia remains a member of the federation, and its clubs continue to receive rating points even after being suspended from tournaments. This has caused outrage in Ukraine and among some European federations.
