UEFA ends Gazprom deal, strips Russia hosting rights of Champions League final, as F1 drops Sochi Grand Prix

Europe’s football governing body, UEFA has terminated its deal Russian gas company, Gazprom, just as the hosting rights for this year’s Champions League final earlier slated for St Petersburg has been relocated to Paris.

Similarly, English Premier League (EPL) giants, Manchester United have terminated its long-standing sponsorship deal with Russia airline, Aeroflot, also in sympathy with the Ukrainian people who have been under bombardment from Russian forces under the

UEFA is said to be in discussions with its lawyers over ending the governing body’s longstanding relationship with Gazprom, after confirming that this season’s men’s Champions League final has been moved from St Petersburg to Paris.

Reacting, Russian authorities claimed UEFA was playing politics with sport.

UEFA’s Champions League showpiece fixture will now be held at the Stade de France on 28 May, with the governing body thanking Emmanuel Macron for his role in facilitating the change.

“Uefa wishes to express its thanks and appreciation to French Republic president Emmanuel Macron for his personal support and commitment to have European club football’s most prestigious game moved to France at a time of unparalleled crisis.

“Together with the French government, UEFA will fully support multi-stakeholder efforts to ensure the provision of rescue for football players and their families in Ukraine who face dire human suffering, destruction and displacement,” a statement said.

In a further statement, UEFA confirmed there would be meetings of the ExCo soon “where additional matters will be addressed”.

Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, has sponsored UEFA’s club competitions for more than a decade and is closely intertwined with football across Europe.

SportBusiness Sponsorship has estimated that Gazprom’s 2018-21 sponsorship deal was worth about €40m a year to UEFA.

That deal was extended last year to include sponsorship of all UEFA’s international competitions.

A second decision was taken to move the home fixtures of Ukrainian and Russian club and national teams in UEFA competitions to neutral venues.

In effect this applies immediately only to Spartak Moscow, who play RB Leipzig the last 16 of the Europa League.

Uefa’s international competition, the Nations League is scheduled to resume in June, when Russia are set to host Iceland and Albania, and Ukraine are due to be at home to Armenia and the Republic of Ireland.

Last Thursday the Ukrainian FA (UAF) had called for all Russian teams to be excluded from UEFA competitions. Although UEFA stopped short of this, its decisions were strongly criticised by Alexander Dyukov, the head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), who sits on the UEFA ExCo and is chairman of the Gazprom subsidiary Gazprom Neft.

In a statement released via the RFU, Dyukov said: “We believe that the decision to move the venue of the Champions League final was dictated by political reasons. The RFU has always adhered to the principle of ‘sport is out of politics’, and thus cannot support this decision.

“The RFU also does not support the decision to transfer any matches involving Russian teams to neutral territory as it violates the sports principle and infringes on the interests of players, coaches and fans.”

Andrii Pavelko, the UAF president, was also present at the meeting.

Russia and Ukraine are due to play in World Cup play-offs next month in fixtures that fall under FIFA’s jurisdiction.

The United Kingdom government responded positively to UEFA’s actions. The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, welcomed the move and the sports minister, Nigel Huddleston, said other sporting bodies due to host events in Russia this year should follow UEFA’s lead.

Meanwhile, Manchester United have officially cancelled their cancel Aeroflot sponsorship. Aeroflot have been sponsor of United since 2013, the club and airline-company signed an agreement to extend the sponsorship in 2017.

A Manchester United spokesperson said of the move to end ties with Aeroflot, the club’s official carrier: “In light of events in Ukraine, we have withdrawn Aeroflot’s sponsorship rights. We share the concerns of our fans around the world and extend our sympathies to those affected.”

“The decision ends a nine-year association between United and Russia’s largest airline. The contract was was due to expire next year, having been renewed in 2017.”

Also commenting, United’s interim manager, Ralf Rangnick, said moving the final was “inevitable” and “the right decision”.

Gazprom’s logo has already been removed this week from the jerseys of German club Schalke 04 but it remains a sponsor.

In other sport, authorities at the Formula One motorsport have dropped this season’s Russian Grand Prix in Sochi from their racing calendar.

This is also as the International Olympic Committee urged sports federations across the world to move their events out of Russia or Belarus, which Moscow is using as a staging ground for its troops moving into Ukraine from the north.

The IOC had already condemned Russia for breaching the Olympic Truce, days after the end of the Beijing Winter Games and ahead of the Paralympics.

Russia’s name, flag and anthem are already barred from the March 4-13 Paralympics in Beijing over previous doping disputes. Its team is due to compete as RPC, short for Russian Paralympic Committee.

Now the IOC is asking events not subject to the WADA doping sanctions to no longer display the Russian or Belarussian national flags or play their anthems.

Meanwhile, the F1 race was not due until September in the Black Sea resort of Sochi but the motorsport series leadership decided it would be “impossible” to stage the Grand Prix after talks with teams and the FIA governing body. American team Haas also dropped the sponsorship of Russian company Uralkali during preseason testing in Barcelona. Nikita Mazepin of Haas is the only Russian driver on the F1 grid this season.

“We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the present situation,” F1 said in a statement.

Away from soccer, the International Ski Federation announced that Russia will not host any more of its World Cup events this winter. The decision came after a farcical attempt to hold ski cross races on Friday in the Urals resort Sunny Valley one day after Russia started an invasion of Ukraine.

Only a handful of Russians started and dozens of racers from all other countries did not take part.

FIS cited ”the safety of all participants and to maintain the integrity of the World Cup” for calling off five scheduled events in the next month. Replacement venues are being sought.