FIFA frees foreign players from Russian contracts

FIFA announced that it was taking measures to protect foreign players playing for Russian Premier League clubs following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, working to help them leave the country without confronting legal problems.

The International Federation of Professional Footballers (FIFPRO) and the organization representing the leagues, the World Leagues Forum (WLF), asked FIFA to make it easier for the players to terminate their current contracts. In a statement, FIFA announced that players will be allowed to join a different club through June 30, after which they will have to return to their contractual teams.

FIFA adopts temporary employment and registration rules to address several issues in relation to war in Ukraine

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— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) March 7, 2022

The final decision is now in the hands of the FIFA Council Bureau, which includes the presidents of the six regional confederations. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, FIFA suspended the country from international soccer, although it did not take direct action against its federation and leaders.

Hundreds of foreign players play in Russia and could not leave their clubs or sign with others outside the two transfer windows of the year: the summer and winter transfer markets. But faced with this exceptional situation caused by the war, FIFPRO general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann and his WLF counterpart Jerome Perlemuter wrote a joint letter to FIFA to ask that players contracted in Russia be allowed to continue their careers in other countries.

Russian soccer has begun to suffer an exodus of foreigners, including the departure of three coaches. Ukrainian Andriy Voronin left Dinamo Moscow, German Daniel Farke resigned as coach of F.C. Krasnodar after just seven weeks in the job and Markus Gisdol, also from Germany, left Lokomotiv Moscow.