One year after her invasion Russia V Ukraine, within the two countries, one of the few things that reminds of the pre-war era is football.

The Russians may have been suspended from participation in all international and collective competitions, there are no Ukrainians, but little has really changed in their leagues. The interest of the fans is the same sponsors are surprisingly not shy about investing, budgets, especially in Russia, are still large, and those foreign players or coaches who decide to take a chance and continue their career in the country are getting good money.

In the Russian championship, which after a four-month break started again in early March, Zenith who always has her support “Gazprom”, still holding the scepter seven points away from the second Rostov and eight of the third Spartak Moscow.

By carefully examining the line-ups of these teams, one can see how many famous football players left the country, choice of confidence in the European Championships. However, this does not mean that there were no outstanding players.

For example, in the pioneer “Zenith” out of ten foreigners included in the potential of the team, seven Brazilians with bigger names Malcolm And Claudinio who signed an extension to their contracts over the summer, against the prevailing wave of flight.

And not only that, but a month ago, by decree signed by Vladimir Putin received Russian citizenship with the aim of playing when conditions permit Russian team. In addition, they never played for Selesao, taking part only in the Tokyo Olympics. In September 2021, they were called up for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, but Zenit withdrew them without even playing a minute.

Two Brazilians, who were among 38 foreigners who received citizenship from the Russian president, by a special decree issued exactly one year after the start of the invasion of Ukraine, wanted to receive this new status for tax reasons, since they will be much less taxed with Russian citizenship.

Malcolm and Claudinho have extended contracts with Zenit! 🇧🇷✍️

Details: https://t.co/pkaSAK7bMc pic.twitter.com/9CDGx45RBw

— FC Zenit in English✨ (@fczenit_en) July 22, 2022

Zenit managed to keep the 29-year-old Colombian defensive midfielder of the national team. Wilmar Barrios which was acquired in 2019 by Boca Juniors for 12 million euros and still includes his 25-year-old compatriot Matteo Cashier and the international center returned from Kazakhstan Nurali Alip.

Good diplomatic relations between Russia and Brazil have prevented the flight of most Brazilians from the league, which for the same reason has several Serbs, players former Soviet republics but also their countries Latin America which maintain open channels of communication with Moscow.

Eventually 17 Brazilians soccer players currently compete in Russian Premier League. Also 13 Serbs, 8 Belarusians, 7 Argentines, 6 Bosniaks, 4 Croats and 3 Montenegrins. Only from EU countries 3 Dutch, 3 French and 1 Portuguese.

OUR Krasnodar Russian tycoon Sergey Galitsky, with what many consider to be the most modern stadium in the world, two months ago he offered an excellent contract to his friend from Greece, both as a player and as a coach, Vladan Ivic, leave Maccabi Tel Aviv. An annual contract that exceeds 1.5 million euros and reaches 2.5 million euros per year, including bonuses and income from partners of the Serbian technician. Among them is an ace veteran of Olympiacos. Sinisa Gogich and former PAOK goalkeeper Christ Kelpekis.

At the same time in Ukraine, football seems to remain unaffected by the fighting. OUR Miner leads the championship three points behind second Dnieper and until recently participated in Europa League, advance to the 1/8 finals.

The presence of a cassette 7 million euros continues to play in his club Donetsk 22-year-old striker of the national team of Burkina Faso Lacina Traore, which was acquired by Ajax two years ago for 10 million euros and is the highest paid foreign player in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Shakhtar President, Rinat Akhmetov, which, according to Forbes, richest man in the country decided to leave a valuable chest in the team, despite the transfer of the great talent of Ukrainian football Mikhail Mudrik, at the Chelsea of ​​the American Foreign Ministry Todd Pain instead of 100 million euros, efor an astronomical amount, of which 25 million euros were donated to Ukrainian soldiers and their families.

Brazilians make up the lion’s share (34%), foreigners of the Ukrainian league.

Asia shows the future of Russia

At the moment when Team of Ukraine prepares to rush next Sunday (26/3) into the battle for Euro qualification, face to face at Wembley England, V Russian team will give his first home match since the beginning of the war, taking in St. Petersburg Iraq. Valery Karpin’s team has not played on Russian soil since they defeated Cyprus 6-0 in November 2021 in a World Cup qualifier in Qatar, which they ended up missing after being banned by FIFA.

Tickets for the match Russia – Iraq are already on sale this Sunday at the Gazprom Arena! 🇬🇧🇮🇶

🎫 https://t.co/DLxVcBy3Og pic.twitter.com/e160y4YKd6

— FC Zenit in English✨ (@fczenit_en) March 23, 2023

From then until yesterday, when he met with Iran in Tehran, he barely three in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. A clear sign that the Russian Football Union (RFU) is getting closer to leaving UEFA and joining AFC (Asian Football Confederation), so that Russian football can again go beyond the narrow borders of the country.

With the UFR excluded from the Euro qualifiers in Germany, all the weight falls on convincing FIFA to give the green light to its participation in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in the US, Mexico and Canada. A possibility that seems very remote, given the events in the war, which do not inspire optimism.