Russian Oligarch Jumps to the Rescue by Paying Fabio Capello's $6 Million Wages

By Reuters

Feb. 6, 2015

Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov has jumped to the rescue by reportedly offering to pay the outstanding wages of Russia's national football coach Fabio Capello. Pascal Dumont / MT

Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov will pay the wages owed to the national team's head coach Fabio Capello, according to Russian media reports.

The 61-year-old businessman was asked by Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko to provide the Russian Football Union (RFS) with a subsidized loan worth 400 million rubles ($6.01 million).

Media reports say Italian coach Capello and the team's general manager Oreste Cinquini are owed around 600 million robles and were last paid in June 2014.

Mutko said on Thursday that Capello's salary issues would be settled within the next two days.

"We spoke with Alisher Usmanov for around an hour and managed to get things sorted out. As a citizen of Russia he would also have been embarrassed that we as a country that plans to host the next World Cup cannot even pay the head coach of Russia," Mutko told news agency RBC-Sport

Usmanov was named by Forbes as Russia's richest person in 2014, with a fortune of $18.6 billion. He is also the second-largest shareholder at English Premier League side Arsenal.

Sources close to Usmanov said that he had given the Russian Football Union a gift of 300 million rubles before the 2014 World Cup.

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