MOSCOW, October 17 (R-Sport) – Russia’s heavily indebted football governing body is trying to secure a multimillion-dollar sponsorship deal with leading independent natural gas producer Novatek, association President Nikolai Tolstykh said Thursday.
The Russian Football Union, known by the Russian acronym RFS, is thought to have significantly reduced the $25 million worth of debt that had accumulated under previous chief Sergei Fursenko, but needs to secure a long-term financial backer to avoid sinking back to that level.
The RFS is attempting to coax Novatek into the sponsorship deal by touting the prospect of immense media coverage at next year's World Cup finals after the Russian national team qualified for the tournament earlier this week.
The deal in the pipeline is understood to be worth 250 million rubles ($7.8 million).
Novatek is Russia's second-largest gas producer after state-controlled Gazprom, which used to sponsor the Russian FA but did not accept a renewal proposal last December for reasons it failed to explain.
Some commentators speculated Gazprom was irked by RFS refusal to back a proposed new league that would merge the top divisions of Russian and Ukrainian football.
Gazprom denies that claim.
