Global sports equipment giant Adidas has announced it has suspended its sponsorship with the Russian Football Federation due to the invasion of Ukraine, a spokesman announced.
“Adidas suspends with immediate effect its sponsorship with the Russian Football Federation”, explained the company, which in 2020 made 2.9% of its turnover in the region of Russia, Ukraine and countries of the former USSR.
The day before, UEFA had broken its contract with the Russian energy giant Gazprom, estimated at 40 million euros and which covered the Champions League, international competitions organized by the European soccer body, as well as Euro 2024.
This decision by Adidas is therefore another blow to Russian football, after FIFA’s decision to exclude the national team from the 2022 World Cup, organized in Qatar at the end of the year.
Sponsor and equipment company contracts have also been discontinued in other sports: the bicycle manufacturer LOOK decided, at the same time, to end its sponsorship, which began at the beginning of the year, with the Russian team Gazprom-RusVelo, a member of the UCI Pro Team, the second division of men’s road cycling.
Sponsorship contract breaks and exclusion measures for Russian and Belarusian athletes have multiplied in many sports since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
Moscow Locomotive
For his part, German coach Markus Gisdol has resigned from the Russian team Lokomotiv Moscow, in protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Bild newspaper announced.
“I cannot exercise my vocation in a country whose leader is responsible for a war, for an attack on the heart of Europe. That does not correspond to my values and that is why I have resigned with immediate effect from my position as coach of Lokomotiv Moscow”, Gisdol declared to the German newspaper.
“I cannot be on the training field, coaching players, demanding professionalism while, a few kilometers from here, there are orders being given that cause an entire town to suffer. It is a personal decision and I am absolutely convincedhe added.
According to Bild, Gisdol, former coach of Hoffenheim (2013-2015), Hamburg (2016-2018) and Cologne (2019-2021), would have already returned to Germany, after having made a first stop in Istanbul.
Gisdol came to the bench of the Russian capital club in October 2021 to replace Ralf Rangnick after his departure to Manchester United, and had a contract until June 30, 2022.
The team currently occupies the seventh position in the Russian championship.
