About £8, 250 cash was stolen from the suitcase of Nigerian international, Nwakwo Kanu, in Moscow after he arrived from London.
The Sun reports that Russian police said the money taken by two loaders at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Kanu who won the Premier League title with London side, Arsenal, was in Russia to play in a Fifa legends game
The footballer reported the money missing when he reached Kaliningrad, where he was playing in the World Cup curtain raiser game organised by Fifa.
Lt-Col Irina Volk, spokeswoman for the Russian Interior Ministry, said the loaders were dealing with the baggage from a London to Moscow flight.
Kanu, travelling on a British passport, had appealed for help to police in Kaliningrad.
Volk said: “The stolen cash was removed [by the loaders] and will soon be returned to the owner.”
Russian interior spokeswoman Irina Volk said that the money is being recovered
The loaders, aged 30 and 36, face criminal investigation and could be sent to jail for up to six years.
Credit: The Sun of London