Several major football clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain, Parma and Panathinaikos, may have breached EU sanctions this year by entering into dubious transfer deals with Russian clubs.
Football clubs in Europe continue to conduct risky transfer business with Russian teams despite the danger that such deals could breach EU sanctions against Russia.
In December 2023, the Offside Deals investigation, led by Follow the Money, revealed that 25 European clubs had breached EU sanctions by entering into transfer deals with Russian teams since Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It now appears that other transfer deals between 14 European clubs, including Paris Saint-Germain and Parma, and clubs in Russia may also be in breach of such EU sanctions.
European football clubs risk breaching sanctions against Russia if they do business with managers or owners of Russian clubs on the EU sanctions list or if they hold transfer money intended for a Russian team until sanctions against that country are lifted.
Authorities and judges have not yet ruled on whether the clubs in question are in breach of sanctions. However, most legal experts Follow the Money spoke to suspect that the clubs are taking this risk.
In this summer transfer window, Russian clubs made 49 transfers with clubs outside Russia for a total value of €100 million. By comparison, 46 transfers were made in the summer of 2023 and 40 in the same period in 2022.
Nearly half of this summer’s transfers (24 of them) were with a club from the European Union.
This year, 11 clubs in Europe risked breaching EU sanctions by buying players from a Russian team and possibly paying transfer fees. Offside Agreements had previously revealed that 18 European clubs could be in breach of the EU’s ban on deposits in the 2022-2023 period.
This summer, Russia’s most expensive player went to France’s biggest club PSG. The French champions paid around €20 million to sign goalkeeper Matvey Safonov from FK Krasnodar.
You can read Follow The Money’s comprehensive investigation here.
Manchester City reach sanctions agreement with Premier League for 22 rule infringements
