West Ham $10M transfer payment to CSKA Moscow held up by UK sanctions

GENEVA (AP) — Millions of dollars due to soccer club CSKA Moscow from West Ham will stay unpaid while financial sanctions are imposed by the British government during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

CSKA said on Friday it could file an appeal with Switzerland’s supreme court in the three-year financial dispute over the 26.7 million euros ($30.8 million) transfer deal for Croatia midfielder Nikola Vlasic.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in the case, further stalling payments owed by West Ham, is “essentially an indefinite deferment plan for the English club,” CSKA Moscow said in a statement.

West Ham must pay the outstanding money only when it can get a license from the British government or the sanctions regime is amended, the CAS judges ruled. They also overturned a FIFA order that West Ham should be liable for 5% interest since 2022 on the money.

West Ham appealed to CAS challenging a FIFA order in 2023 to pay CSKA a second contracted part of the transfer fee or face a ban on registering newly signed players.

The Premier League club signed Vlašić in 2021 and a second payment of 8.55 million euros ($9.9 million) was due in July 2022.

That was five months after Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine led the British government to impose financial sanctions including against CSKA’s then-owner, the VEB bank, and the club's account holder.

West Ham has argued since 2022 it was “faced with the impossibility” of sending money to Russia without committing a crime.

However, FIFA judges ruled in 2023 that West Ham did not prove it was impossible to make the payment.

At the CAS hearing, FIFA told the panel of three judges it was unable to create and oversee an escrow account that West Ham could pay into.

The CAS panel ruled by a 2-1 majority for West Ham that “no alternative legal routes were available to pay CSKA at that time.”

The 27-year-old Vlašić played one season for West Ham which later sold him to Torino for almost 13 million euros ($15 million).

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