Shachtar Donetsk complains to European commission over conduct of FIFA

Shachtar Donetsk has filed a complaint with the European Commission over FIFA’s actions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian club says it lost 40 million euros in transfer fees and other revenues due to regulations by the world soccer federation.

FIFA decided after the outbreak of war that foreign soccer players would be allowed to leave Ukraine and Russia. The world soccer federation initially suspended the contracts of foreign players and coaches until June 30 last year, but later gave foreigners the option to unilaterally terminate their contracts until June 30 next year if no agreement with the club is reached.

Shachtar lost Brazilians David Neres (the former Ajax player left for Benfica), Tete (Olympique Lyon) and Dentinho (Besiktas), among others, since the invasion last February. The club tried in vain to recover the 40 million euros from FIFA, which declared that the measures were an inevitable consequence of the situation in Ukraine.

Shachtar also went to the CAS. But the international sports tribunal upheld FIFA’s rules. Without many of its foreign stars, the Ukrainian superpower was eliminated by Feyenoord in the Europa League earlier this month. The 7-1 defeat in Rotterdam became fatal to Shachtar after the 1-1 in the “home game” in Poland.