Enlarge image
Liverpool's Mo Salah
Photo:
Jon Super / dpa
The Premier League and its 20 clubs have agreed to end the agreement with Russian broadcast partner Rambler (Okko Sport) with immediate effect and to donate £1m to support the people of Ukraine.
The decision was unanimous, according to a statement from the English league.
The League condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and called for peace.
Last match day, the Premier League clubs drew attention to the war in Ukraine with a solidarity campaign before their matches kicked off.
France's league also recently stopped broadcasting their games in Russia.
According to the announcement, the broadcast stop applies immediately.
Four games scheduled for Thursday, including Chelsea's game at Norwich City, can no longer be seen on Russian television.
According to media reports, the TV contract with Russia is said to be worth six million pounds (7.2 million euros) per season.
English league makes billions from media rights
In this season, the television agreement with the Russian broadcaster would have been valid for another three months;
specifically, Premier League clubs could lose £1.5m (€1.8m) – an amount that clubs can easily afford.
Premier League clubs generate billions in media revenue.
As the AP news agency reported in mid-February, the clubs were recently informed of a significant increase in media revenues.
Accordingly, the international sale of media rights for the coming three-year cycle should bring in the equivalent of 6.29 billion euros, which would mean an increase of almost 1.5 billion euros.
The international revenues would exceed those from the national rights sale (6.05 billion) for the first time.
jan/dpa