Soccer: FIFA extends protection for players and coaches in Ukraine and Russia

ZURICH – FIFA extended for another season its decision to allow players and coaches to suspend their contracts with Ukrainian and Russian clubs on Monday, even though it could be taken to court by Ukrainian club Shakhtar of Donetsk.

FIFA had adopted an interim measure less than two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.

She then declared that the objective was « to protect foreign players and coaches who had to flee Ukrainian and Russian territories because of the conflict and who no longer wish to return there because of the current circumstances ».

This decision was renewed last year, and will now be in effect until June 2024.

However, players and coaches who joined clubs in these countries after the first extension of this FIFA decision in March 2022 will not be eligible for this protection, nor will those who agreed to contract extensions with these clubs after this date.

This regulation irritates Ukrainian and Russian clubs who believe that their rights are being violated since their players are eligible for loans, and add that these loans cost them millions of dollars in transfer fees.

Shakhtar and several Russian clubs lost other similar cases before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which in January upheld the validity of FIFA’s decision.