Last week, Fabio Capello’s contract with the Russian Football Union (RFU) was made public by Novaya Gazeta in a highly embarassing episode for the game’s governing body. The scale of renumeration that the Italian has been enjoying has long been known, and recently confirmed, as €7 million a year, making him the world’s highest-paid national team manager. That isn’t the most damaging part of last Friday’s revelations, however; two controversial clauses have come to light that cast serious doubts over the RFU’s approach in appointing the former England, Juventus and AC Milan head coach.
Billionaire oil tycoon Alishere Usmanov saved the blushes of the RFU by supplying an emergency loan late last year
Firstly, it appears that the contract stipulates Capello’s right to cancel the contract without paying a penalty. Given last year’s debacle where Uzbek-born businessman Alisher Usmanov came to the rescue with a 400 million ruble loan to the RFU to help pay six months of Capello’s salary, it could at least be taken as a positive that the Italian did not choose to activate his right to leave. Whether the lure of managing a nation at its home World Cup was too great to resist or he has genuinely developed an affection for his adopted nation is unclear, but the presence of this clause creates an unsteadying influence around the position.
Secondly, the RFU itself does not have the same right to cancel Capello’s contract. This imbalance of power in the individual’s favour suggests the strategy used to appoint Capello was ‘sign him at all costs’ - no federation should leave itself so exposed if the value of the contract is so high. This control over his job security suits Don Fabio down to the ground; a famous autocrat in the dugout, he relishes utter authority and has built an austere aura of discipline around himself throughout his managerial career. After Russia’s abysmal showing in Brazil, and having cannily signed a renewal in January once qualification for Brazil had been ensured, Capello could sit back without needing to worry about impressing his employers.
Minister for Sport Vitaliy Mutko holds the key to the future of Russian football in his hands
Vitaliy Mutko, the Minister for Sport, has distanced himself from the situation by directing all lines of enquiry to RFU President Nikolai Tolstykh, despite having signed various sections of the contract himself. “Of course I have undersigned it since it is my job,” Mutko told the media last Friday. “There are 160 sport federations in our country, and each of them signs certain contracts. My primary task is to approve the candidacy of head coaches. Sport Federations are self-sustained bodies, and organizational and financial details are within their responsibilities.”
Despite last week’s leak, Tolstykh had previously claimed that there are in fact provisions for sacking Capello. “[His] contract provides the RFU with the possibility of firing the coach in case of the team’s poor results,” he told French sports newspaper L’Equipe in February, only two months after seeing Usmanov’s bale-out refill the manager’s pockets. “The non-qualification of the team for Euro 2016 would be seen as a breach of contract.” The RFU boss has also had to field accusations of third party involvement in the signing of Capello’s contract, which he has strenuously denied.
In an official statement, the RFU hit out at the spreading of the information contained in the contract itself, claiming there was an evil motive in releasing the details. “The RFU views the publication of these documents in Russian media as another provocation on the part of another party interested in creating additional problems for the RFU, an atmosphere of mistrust and suspicion in the Russian football society and in impairing the reputation of Russian football.” The statement did not confirm exactly who they believe has such a motive, but the defensive tone of their communication points to an unease with the revelations themselves, something which they negotiated with Capello in the first place.
Claims and counter-claims surrounding the details of Capello’s contract are the last matter the RFU need to be dealing with at a time when the world media is focussing its lenses on wider social issues such as racism and homophobia in the game, not to mention the very real risk of failing to qualify for Euro 2016. Calls for a re-run of the vote to award Qatar the following World Cup in 2022 have been extended in some quarters to Russia itself, so a united front will be essential in convincing the global audience that Russia is ready to provide a fitting stage for FIFA’s flagship tournament.
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