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FIFA is postponing compensation payments for Russian teams involved in last year’s World Cup in Qatar owing to penalties imposed on the Russian Football Union (RFU), according to its Secretary General Maxim Mitrofanov on Sunday.
Russian national teams and clubs have been barred from participating in most major FIFA and UEFA football events as part of sanctions imposed on Moscow following the commencement of its military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022.
UEFA signalled a possible cooling of its sanctions last month by opening the door to Russian under-17 teams returning to the fold – only to shut it down days later owing to indignation within its executive committee. According to the RFU’s senior official, the restrictions continue to harm Russian Premier League clubs that would otherwise be eligible for compensation for their players’ participation in last year’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“For the time being, money for player participation in the 2022 World Cup is blocked,” Mitrofanov told TASS. “FIFA is not sending this money due to the fact that our clubs are under sanctions.”
FIFA said in July that it would pay $209 million to clubs whose players competed in the Qatar tournament last year – an unusual World Cup that began in November rather than the summer months to avoid the searing Doha heat. FIFA stated that the funds will be distributed to 440 clubs from 51 different nations.
This contains $10,950 daily totals for each of the tournament’s 837 players, regardless of how much time they spent on the pitch. FIFA paid $8,530 per player who competed in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
FIFA also stated that all clubs that had a World Cup player registered for two years prior to the start of the tournament would be compensated.
Several players in the competition had previously played for Russian clubs, including Uruguayan defender Gullermo Varela and Polish midfielder Sebastian Szymanski, both of whom played for Dynamo Moscow. Dejan Lovren, a bronze medalist for Croatia, was a Zenit Saint Petersburg defender until January of this year.
Manchester City is poised to collect $4,596,445 from FIFA, the most of any team and only ahead of both Barcelona ($4,538,955) and Bayern Munich ($4,331,809).
