The confrontation between Russia and Ukraine "carries implications beyond the administrative" for UEFA and FIFA, according to Ian Hawkey of the London TELEGRAPH. Campaigners for sanctions against Russian aggression "will target the World Cup in 2018, with Russia the designated hosts." UEFA and leading clubs from western Europe "are under pressure to examine their economic ties with Russia." Take Bundesliga side FC Schalke. This weekend, the club was "challenged from within the European parliament to take their field at Augsburg in jerseys without their sponsor’s name." Schalke have since '07 advertised Gazprom, "thanks to a lucrative arrangement with the Russian energy supplier, that to nobody’s great surprise, they did not cancel, even for one matchday." Gazprom is a "corporate partner" of Chelsea, which, like Schalke, is in Champions League action this week; Gazprom bankrolls Zenit, also in the last 16 of club football’s elite competition. None of those clubs promote the company as heavily as UEFA, which is halfway through a three-year sponsorship deal granting Gazprom "high visibility around the broadcasting and staging of every Champions League match'' (TELEGRAPH, 3/17).
