As the collateral damage in the Russia invasion of Ukraine continues to pile, sport has also received massive hit for it.
The cost of the war is transcending the battle ground, and even before international football bodies suspended Russia from all sporting activities days ago, some European clubs had severed business relations with Russian companies.
Russia launched a large-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 4, as a major escalation to the conflict that began in 2014, and days after, German division 2 side, Schalke 04, announced that they were removing the logo of Gazprom, a state-owned Russian energy provider, from their outfit. The club followed up the decision by completely ending their shirt sponsorship deal said to be worth €150 million with the energy company.
“The FC Schalke 04 managing board and supervisory board have come to the agreement to end the club’s partnership with GAZPROM prematurely,” the club partly said in a statement.
On February 27, English giants Manchester United cancelled their £40 million sponsorship deal with Russian state-owned airline Aeroflot, ending a 10-year partnership a year before it was due to terminate.
After UEFA and FIFA suspended the Russian national team and clubs from all competitions until further notice, the European football governing body also ended the £33.5m-a-season contract with Gazprom, in response to invasion of Ukraine.
The sponsorship deal has been in place since 2012.
“UEFA has today decided to end its partnership with Gazprom across all competitions,” the body said.
“The decision is effective immediately and covers all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and UEFA EURO 2024.
“Football is in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine.”
Another Premier League side, Everton, also announced on March 1, that they have canceled their sponsorship deals with three Russian companies with immediate effect, with each of USM, Megafon and Yota having close ties to billionaire Alisher Usmanov, a billionaire oligarch. Though Usmanov is not on the Everton board, he is a close business associate of the club’s owner Farhad Moshiri.
The English club had agreed to a £30m exclusive option for stadium naming rights in one of the deals.
As Russia scale up its bombing of Ukraine, leaving behind ruins and cities under rubbles with children and women as casualties, more global sporting establishments may be forced to end contractual relations with other Russia-linked business entities.
