MOSCOW, July 1. /ITAR-TASS/. A Just Russia political party urges manager of Russia’s national football team Fabio Capello to reject his fees due to the defeat of the Russian squad at 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“We just could not afford to fail at the World Cup… I’m addressing Fabio Capello. You received 800 million rubles ($23 million) for a shameful defeat. Give the money back, at least half of it,” Oleg Pakholkov representing A Just Russia stated on Tuesday from the State Duma’s tribune.

He called the Capello’s policy of choosing players for Russia’s national team a failure. “Who will play at the 2018 World Cup? The great manager says we should seek for talents abroad… Russian football clubs pay more than a billion dollars to foreign mercenaries. The clubs are loss-making and are supported by state corporations. It turns out that foreign football is funded with our money,” Pakholkov noted.

He pointed to the fact that the ‘weight class’ of Russia’s national team changed. “Look at our squad: all are well-matched and small; it’s like a South-Korean standard. When did we manage to turn our country into sport dwarfs?” the lawmaker added.

He urged to develop national football through training Russian athletes. “Is it that there are no local football talents in the whole great country?!” Pakholkov said.

Russia’s national team failed to make it through to the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup, drawing a tie with South Korea (1-1) and Algeria (1-1), and losing to Belgium (0-1). The next World Cup wll take place in Russia inn 2018.