LAST UPDATE | 28 Feb 2022
UEFA ON MONDAY ended its partnership with Russian state energy giant Gazprom, one of its main sponsors, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European football’s governing body said.
“The decision is effective immediately,” Uefa said after ending the deal which was due to run until 2024 and was widely believed to be worth around €40m ($45m) a year.
Earlier German football club Schalke 04 announced it had prematurely ended its partnership with Russian gas giant Gazprom following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The deal between the second-tier German club and Gazprom had been due to run until 2025 with Schalke receiving around €9m per year in sponsorship.
Had the Gelsenkirchen-based club won promotion back to the Bundesliga at the end of this season, the sponsorship figure would have risen to €15m annually.
Schalke had already removed the Gazprom logo from their shirts for Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Karlsruhe.
In a statement, Schalke said their finances were “unaffected by this decision”.
“The club’s management is confident that it will be able to present a new partner in the near future.”
Gazprom representative Matthias Warnig resigned from the club’s supervisory board last Thursday.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, interim president of the German Football Association (DFB), had already hinted there could be financial aid for Schalke if they split from Gazprom.
“If this requires the solidarity of other clubs in Germany to get them out of this situation, then we have to discuss how we can manage that,” Watzke told ZDF.
Comedian Michael Fry is our special guest on this week’s episode of The Front Row, in partnership with Guinness. Joining host Seán Burke, Eimear Considine and Murray Kinsella, he chats about his family’s rugby background and his short-lived playing days, before using his musical ear to rank the anthems of each Guinness Six Nations team. Click here to subscribe or listen below:
The42 / SoundCloud
