Shakhtar will seek €50m of damages from FIFA

According to The Athletic, Shakhtar Donetsk are seeking €50 million worth of damages from football’s world governing body and the club has filed papers in the Court of Arbitration for Sport appealing against a ruling by FIFA that allows foreign players to unilaterally suspend their contracts in the war-torn country.

Shakhtar filed the documents to Matthieu Reeb, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) director general in Switzerland, in July. As such, Shakhtar are now gearing up for a remarkable £42.6 million ($50.5m) legal battle with FIFA.

The dispute rests on a FIFA ruling announced on June 21 that stated foreign players and coaches have the right to suspend their employment contracts with Ukrainian clubs until June 30, 2023, unless a mutual agreement could be struck between a player or coach and their club by June 30 this year.

Shakhtar CEO Palkin has explained in detail how player sales worth tens of millions of euros to Shakhtar collapsed within 48 hours of the ruling. He also says Infantino has failed to personally respond to more than one letter addressed to him on the matter and that FIFA misled the public when it claimed to The Athletic previously that it had consulted “key football stakeholders in Ukraine” before the ruling.

When asked to explain how Ukrainian football has been made to feel by the ruling, Palkin said: “Everyone believes we are one football family. This decision just crossed out this slogan. We are not one football family because nobody cares about Ukrainian clubs. This is a very big pity. FIFA does not care about us.”