Russian Premier League club Krasnodar said eight foreign players had their contracts suspended. Daniel Farke, the recently-appointed German manager, also quit on Wednesday. The former Norwich City boss didn’t even get to make his debut on Krasnodar’s bench after joining the team in January. All decisions come in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week.
One of the players affected by Krasnodar’s situation is Remy Cabella, a former Marseille and Newcastle man. He already returned to his native France and currently training with Ligue 1 club Montpellier.
Ex-Paris Saint-Germain and Sevilla Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak was also asked to train alone by Krasndodar until further notice. Krychowiak would like to break his contract in Russia following the military conflict with Ukraine.
The other first-team members to get suspended are Jhon Cordoba (a $20 million arrival from Hertha Berlin in 2021), Wanderson, Botheim, Ramirez, Claesson, Kaio, and Junior Alonso. Armenian Eduard Spertsyan and Belarusian Alyaksandr Martynovich will go on at the club, despite being foreigners. Apart from being the club captain, Martynovich also takes advantage of the privileged relationship between Russia and Belarus.
The latter supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, also being sanctioned by FIFA and UEFA as a consequence. The Belarusians need to play all international games at national team and club levels away from home, as football’s governing bodies banned them from hosting matches. Russia has been eliminated from the international football scene, with national teams and clubs excluded from all continental competitions.
Krasnodar sits sixth in the Russian Premier League. The club postponed a game last week after all airports in the southern part of Russia have been closed.
In 2020, Krasnodar played for the first time in the Champions League group stage. They finished third, behind Chelsea and Sevilla, but ahead of Rennes.
On Monday, Krasnodar will face Ural in the Russian league, despite not having key players available. Major gambling agencies around the world have taken the Russian league out from their offers, as they did for Belarus.