The Premier League and the English Football League will cancel their broadcasting contracts in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Both leagues have instructed their lawyers to begin the process of terminating broadcast contracts in Russia, with an announcement expected in the coming days.

The organizers of the English professional leagues are united in their desire to no longer broadcast matches in Russia, while Vladimir Putin continues to wage war on Ukraine.

The move, which is yet to be finalized, would mean a cut in foreign broadcast revenue – in the case of the Premier League, the current Russian deal is worth around £6million a year. But football bosses are confident that all English clubs will offer their full backing to the plan.

The British government last week added Russian public broadcaster Sberbank to its list of companies facing stiff sanctions, after calls from MPs for English football to take a stand against Russian aggression. Rambler, the Moscow-based television company which has a contract with the Premier League and the EFL to broadcast English football, is a subsidiary of Sberbank.

Foreign players in Ukraine and Russia allowed to leave clubs – temporarily

FIFA announced on Monday evening a temporary change to its statutes allowing foreign players based in Ukraine and Russia to suspend their contracts until the end of June and move elsewhere without penalty.

Unless expressly agreed otherwise, the employment contracts of foreign players and coaches with clubs affiliated to the Ukrainian federation will be deemed to be suspended by operation of law until the end of the season.

Foreign players and coaches in Russia will have the right to unilaterally suspend their contracts until the end of June, if Russian clubs have not reached a mutual agreement to suspend the deal by Thursday at the latest.

“Players and coaches will be considered ‘out of contract’ until 30 June 2022 and will therefore be free to sign a contract with another club without incurring consequences of any kind,” the world governing body’s statement read. soccer.

These players will be able to register in another country even if the registration period in that country is closed, provided they are registered no later than April 7th. A club can sign a maximum of two players under this exemption, FIFA said.

FIFA said minors fleeing Ukraine to other countries due to the armed conflict would be exempt from the rule prohibiting the international transfer of players before the age of 18.

The global players’ union FIFPRO and the World Leagues Forum had written to FIFA last week demanding that foreign players in Russia be allowed to unilaterally terminate their contracts without consequences.

Calls for the cancellation of contracts in Russian clubs

While FIFA has confirmed temporary changes, football authorities have been called on to cancel the contracts of players registered with Russian clubs, so that they are free to sign for clubs elsewhere.

In England, Nottingham Forest are at the forefront of the idea and have written to the EFL asking them to raise the issue with the FA and FIFA.

This time last week, FIFA and UEFA announced that Russian national teams and clubs have been suspended from all international competitions until further notice.

The Russian Football Union quickly announced that it would appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Former Norwich manager Daniel Farke resigned as manager of FC Krasnodar on Wednesday as eight of the Russian club’s players – including former France international Remy Cabella and Sweden winger Victor Claesson – asked suspension of their contracts.

Forest are calling for urgent changes to the international transfer system, so that no player is bound by contract to a Russian club when they cannot play for them.

Forest says he has no specific players in mind he would like to sign with Russian clubs, even if the rules were changed, but he sees this as an important point of principle.

If you would like to support the relief effort in Ukraine, please donate through the WithUkraine Global Support Fund at: www.withukraine.org