Governor of Chukotka Roman Abramovich has promised to give players of the Russian national football team 100,000 pounds sterling (200,000 US dollars) each if they beat the Israeli team on November 17.

This victory will qualify the Russians for the 2008 European Championship finals, The Daily Express reported on Saturday with reference to exclusive sources close to the Russian football players.

“The billionaire Russian owner of Chelsea is utterly committed to seeing his country get to the finals, even though he has close links with Israel and some of Chelsea’s best players are in the England side,” the newspaper writes.

“After Russia overcame England 2-1 in Moscow last week to put themselves in the driving seat in Group E, Abramovich visited the dressing room and gave each of the players a GBP 50,000 bonus,” according to the daily.

LONDON, October 28 (Itar-Tass)