By Mark Baber
March 20 – Pressure from politicians, who wish to use football as a political lever to punish Russia, is putting football authorities’ political independence to the test in the wake of the toppling of Ukraine’s President and government, and the accession of Crimea and Sevastopol to the Russian Federation.
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a prominent member of Germany’s FDP and an MEP suggested in the European Parliament last Friday that Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga should make a gesture against Russia’s intervention in Crimea by not wearing Gazprom’s logo on their shirt for their game against Augsburg.
To the suggestion that this would be a political decision, inappropriate for non-political sport, Count Lambsdorff stated: “To appear with the logo is just as political as without, and in these days the decision should be easy.”
State-owned Gazprom is regarded as close to the Kremlin. However, despite earlier media speculation, chairman of the Gazprom board Alexey Miller was not included on an EU list of individuals subject to travel bans and whose accounts will be frozen.
Gazprom’s sponsorships in Europe include Zenit St Petersburg, Chelsea and Red Star Belgrade as well as sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. Gazprom will also be a FIFA Partner for all competitions in the period 2015-2018.
In Lambsdorff’s opinion, sufficient Schalke fans on the club’s board would wish to send “a signal” to Russia, that the club’s contractual obligations to their sponsor could be overcome. A poll on German media site “westline” found 86.55% of readers viewed Lambsdorff’s suggestions as a “Load of nonsense.”
On the day, Schalke 04 turned up in their usual kit, with the Gazprom logo and Schalke manager Horst Heldt confirmed they would be doing so in all future games.
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