Ukraine’s title-chasing soccer club FC Shakhtar Donetsk has complained to the European Union’s antitrust watchdog after governing body FIFA allowed star players it claims were worth more than €40 million ($43 million) to leave for free following Russia’s invasion last year.
(Bloomberg) — Ukraine’s title-chasing soccer club FC Shakhtar Donetsk has complained to the European Union’s antitrust watchdog after governing body FIFA allowed star players it claims were worth more than €40 million ($43 million) to leave for free following Russia’s invasion last year.
The club, currently top of the national league, alleges FIFA’s order to void players’ contracts to “allegedly protect the legitimate interest of foreign players and coaches currently employed in Ukraine” was a violation of competition rules.
Shakhtar’s CEO Sergei Palkin said in an interview that FIFA’s decision wrecked verbal agreements with a number of clubs to sign five internationals for multimillion-euro fees. The clubs’ response was “thank you very much, we won’t be signing,” Palkin said before the complaint was filed. “We have to figure out how to change FIFA. The whole world is trying to help Ukraine and FIFA is trying to kill us.”
Shakhtar Donetsk has frequently had to overcome adversity in recent years. It’s been unable to play home games in its bomb-damaged 70,000-seat stadium since 2014, after conflict engulfed the Donbass region nearly a decade ago. Owned by steel billionaire Rinat Ahkmetov, whose steelworks in Mariupol saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the current war, the club recently secured at least $70 million for the transfer of Ukraininian attacker Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea FC earlier this year, with Ahkmetov saying he’d donate $25 million of that to Ukraine’s war effort.
Palkin said the complaint was filed with the EU due to the club’s “reliance” on its ability to trade players within the 27-nation bloc. The Brussels-based commission and the EU’s top court in Luxembourg have taken a key role in shaping how players can enjoy the freedom to move clubs, and country. A landmark ruling in 1995 involving Belgian Jean-Marc Bosman meant that clubs could no longer block a move or demand a fee if the player left at the end of their contracts.
FIFA declined to immediately comment and spokespeople for the commission in Brussels didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Shakhtar Donetsk lost a December ruling over the matter at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration in Sport and said it’s appealing that decision.
–With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni.
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