Source:REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
[Saba Sports News] According to British media reports, despite facing international sanctions and banking restrictions, FIFA is still demanding that several European football clubs pay overdue transfer fees owed to Russian clubs. Since 2022, FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber has handled 13 cases involving clubs claiming expired transfer fees that were not paid after sanctions were imposed on Moscow. In all cases, clubs were required to make payments within 45 days, or they would face bans on transfers for three transfer windows. In one case, London club West Ham United was ordered to pay the sanctioned Russian club CSKA Moscow, or they would face a transfer ban. The reason for this was that West Ham had not paid the full transfer fee of €26 million for Croatian player Nikola Vlasic. West Ham argued that they could not complete the payment because CSKA Moscow, its owners, its general manager, and the financial institutions it collaborates with were all on the sanctions list. The club believes that making this payment would violate UK law. However, FIFA ruled that West Ham must make the payment. Reports indicate that FIFA has made the same ruling in the 13 cases, with 8 involving European teams owing amounts to Russian organizations and 5 involving Russian teams owing amounts to European clubs.