Foreign footballers and coaches employed in the Russian and Ukrainian leagues will see their contracts “suspended” until the end of the season and will be free to hire elsewhere in the spring, FIFA announced on Monday. On the Russian side, banned from the sporting world since the invasion of Ukraine and deprived of international competitions, the objective is to “facilitate the departure” of all those who have not found an agreement with their clubs, explains the global body.
They will therefore have “the right to unilaterally suspend their employment contract” until June 30, 2022, and will be able to engage in another championship “at the latest on April 7”, even being outside the transfer periods. Foreign players and coaches in Ukraine will benefit from the same provision, to allow them “to work and receive a salary” while “protecting Ukrainian clubs” brought to a halt by the clashes.
FIFA calls for “a rapid cessation of hostilities”
Finally, minor players fleeing Ukraine will be treated by FIFA as refugee minors, thus accessing the international transfer market normally closed to under-18s. FIFA, which has already banned Russia from the 2022 World Cup but risks appealing to sports justice against this decision, “reiterated its condemnation of the use of force by Russia in Ukraine” and called ” to a rapid cessation of hostilities”.