How Sanctions Have Impacted Russian Football

It has been almost a year since the Russian Football Union was suspended from all FIFA and UEFA competitions, including the World Cup and the Champions League, turning the Russian Premier League and the Russia national football team into footballing pariahs.

So in this documentary, from star players leaving Russia to how the league and clubs revenues have all collapsed, HITC Sevens takes a look at just some of the ways in which sanctions - both inside and outside of the sport - have impacted Russian football.

[heehoproductions]

A small correction: "Zenith" wasn't the last remaining Russian club in the Europa League, Spartak Moscow was. They were scheduled to play in the Round of 16 but were eventually expelled due to UEFA sanctions.

[peteredeoghon]

How you come up with these topics is nothing short of brilliant. Didn't know I needed this documentary until now. Keep up the good work.

[KOTDM]

I became fascinated with Russian football a few years ago, when I heard about the furthest distance for a domestic league game (I think it was Vladivostok vs Baltika Kaliningrad, at that point - one of the teams is nearer Korea than Moscow)

[lucaslonchampt]

I don't often ask for videos, but I would like to see one on the dark side of the French Football Federation. While on the outside, French Football seems fine, as the country has reached back to back World Cup finals and won one of them, there is a lot of terrible things going on behind the curtains. Really, if the national team is succeeding, it's not because of them.

[simonepella]

"In a bromance that was so extreme that it probably could have gotten both arrested in Russia" I will definitely borrow this line, I can't stop laughing, you made my day.

[goattm]

Do a video on Polish club Widzew Lodz. They were in the Polish Premier League, got banned and dumped in division 5 where the fans took over and then 6 years later are back in the top division and are currently in 3rd place.

[stansheppard]

There was also the Yugoslavia ban in 1992 that let Denmark in to win the Euros.

[alexkabargin]

Very good detail of the video. I am from Russia and have been following the downfall of Russian football for a while.
You are right in saying the football is in decay - even before the war, the financing of the football clubs reduced drastically. This led to the domination of the clubs backed by the natural resource companies(Zenit, Spartak) with just a few exceptions(Krasnodar, or Rostov who managed to do well with almost zero financing)
The football in the regions is in sad state. There are no schools outside the big cities, and even in those parents have to pay bribes to get their kid accepted. Hence a lot of diamonds just rot in the regional leagues or quit football all together(I am from Far East, and it is especially sad in there)
War just amplified the decay. Losing the majority of good players and fan ID(basically, now to enter the stadium you need to go through bureaucratic hell - there are huge protests among the fans and a lot of stadiums are empty) - and the clubs, already not profiting, were affected even more as the economic situation deteriorates. I expect the downfall to the level of belarussian league and possible death of the professional football clubs - however, in the context of the war, it's not as important. Many things need to be fixed, but until the war is over, I don[t care about the football. Hopefully as the regime falls the whole structure of sport is rethought and redesigned to be less result-focused and more helping people reach their potential. Every Olympics, world cup regarded almost as a war. Thns needs to stop. In sports like figure skating people are scarred for life at the age of 15 because of over-training for medals. We need to be more humane.

[PassivesAbseits]

Wouldn't be the most recent example be Yugoslavia being banned because of their civil war in 1992?
But let's make no mistake: Invading another country or being at war was not the reason, why Russia was banned. The problem was, that they invaded a European Country, which would have been such a big debate, that it could not have been ignored and instead dominated the discussion during the World Cup.
I would even bet, that Infantio rejoiced, when Wales beat Ukraine, and he wouldn't have to worry about the narrative arriving at the World Cup.

[yagocperez]

As a journalism student, I absolutely love your content, full of depth, analysis and research. You are such an example, thank you for everything, Alphie! Greetings from A Coruña, Spain!
By the way, maybe its time to speak again about my beloved Deportivo, as things have changed since your amazing video about them. We have recently got our former star Lucas Pérez back!

[becca]

infantino constantly getting things wrong must be some sort of world record

[ezraezra]

You should make a video about Indonesian football. Our country has plagued by numerous problems. It started when FIFA decided to ban the Indonesian football back in 2015 after a series of internal conflicts between the football federation (PSSI) and the government. That event overshadows the country's preparations for the 2018 Asian Games held in Jakarta and Palembang, although FIFA decided to lift the ban a year later. Then, after 2018 Asian Games was successfully held, Indonesia was controversially awarded as 2021 U-20 World Cup, which was postponed later because of pandemic. After the football resumed with the presence of spectators in 2022, things got worse as the football hooliganism happened in Kanjuruhan, where hundreds were killed during the league match. The whole Indonesian football was suspended and there were numerous threats to ban the country from playing in international stages just like Russia did, which means no U-20 World Cup and Asian Cup this year. I hope football hooliganism in Indonesia was a main topic for that video.

[RideRVeNNoM]

Great research Alfie. Would love to see a video on what's happening in Ukrainian football now. Where do the teams play now etc.?

[rechnin]

It must be a huge strain for many players and their families, I am particulalrly thinking of the likes of Miranchuk and Malinovskiy who were best mates at Atalanta, though both have since left.

[nicocorbo]

great video alfie. i didn’t know about the lukoil chairman situation. definitely something to look into. thanks for the consistent football and geopolitics as usual

[rohithraman]

Shows how time flies so quickly, I absolutely loved the 2018 world cup, for me it was one of the best world cups ever, and as an England fan I have many fond memories of that tournament, and Russia was praised for its excellent hosting of the event, contrast that to now

[tkachevtimur]

As a Russian, I appreciate you acknowledging the downfall of Russian football. This is a great video

[vincentlewis]

As always, educational and entertaining. Great job Alfie mate.

[macmillan]

Not sure how you add so much information in such little time and uploading the video. Top work!

[williamferguson]

Can we get a follow up on the current state of the Ukrainian football league?