Which football clubs and leagues cooperate with the Russian gas company Gazprom

The Russian energy corporation Gazprom has become a major partner of world football as part of its sponsorship activities. In this article you will find out which clubs and leagues it cooperates with.

The world is taking a hard line against Vladimir Putin and his military campaigns across Ukraine. With companies operating in Russia getting blacklisted in various areas, including the world of football.

As we have already informed you, Russia has been stripped of its obligation to host the Champions League finals for 2022. Russian national and club teams have been banned from all FIFA and UEFA competitions until further notice.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to the severing of political, financial and sporting ties between institutions that have worked together for many years. Among the organisations that have been most ostracised in recent days is the Russian gas company Gazprom.

Clubs cooperating with Gazprom

Reigning Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg have the most successful partnership with Gazprom. Their home stadium was supposed to host this year’s Champions League final, but the biggest club event of the year has been moved to Paris, according to a UEFA decision. It’s certainly a successful collaboration, after all Zenit have won three consecutive Russian Premier League titles and seven in the last 15 years.

Gazprom’s other successful collaboration is with Serbian team Red Star Belgrade. The successful club is also the defending champion in Serbia’s top competition and has the same number of titles in the last six years.

The third major club with which Gazprom is in partnership is FC Schalke 04. However, the German team has already announced that it is ending its cooperation with the Russian concern.

The team, which suffered relegation from the Bundesliga last season, first decided to remove sponsor logos from its jerseys before completely severing relations with the Russian energy powerhouse.

Leagues cooperating with Gazprom

Gazprom was originally the main sponsor of the Youth Football League, along with the UEFA Youth League and the UEFA Futsal Champions League.

However, it is its involvement in elite European competition that has brought the company to the attention of the global football world. In fact, it has been a partner of the UEFA Champions League since 2012 and the deal said the collaboration was worth around €40 million per season.

However, that deal was broken when European football’s governing body announced that UEFA had decided to end its partnership with Gazprom in all competitions. “The decision is effective immediately and applies to all existing agreements including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA national team competitions and Euro 2024,” a UEFA statement said.

Gazprom has also been a partner in international events such as the UEFA Nations League and the UEFA Super Cup, which is played between the winners of the Champions League and Europa League. But partnerships with these competitions are now also being severed.

Source: Goal, UEFA