Russia gears up for World Cup draw
KREMLIN SHOW Nation faces threat of hooliganism as it takes first step towards mega event
MOSCOW: The World Cup draw in the Kremlin on Friday launches Russia’s bid to turn a page on its history of football hooliganism and racism while warding off a terror threat linked to Moscow’s intervention in Syria.
The success of the tournament is also a matter of personal pride for Vladimir Putin after the Russian strongman helped wrest the June 14-July 15 competition from England in an ugly 2010 battle before relations with the West dramatically collapsed over Ukraine.
It is an $11.5-billion (9.7-billion-euro) gamble for which many of the 11 host cities underwent their first major post-soviet facelifts with the potential to create the same “white elephant” stadiums and hotels left behind by the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
And the 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) between the westernmost stadium in Kaliningrad near Poland and easterly one in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg -- the same distance separating Paris and Moscow -- will test the fans’ resolve.
Displays of racism in Russian football multiplied after foreign players arrived once the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991.
Brazilian striker Hulk said he heard monkey chants at “almost every match” when he led Zenit Saint Petersburg to a title and two second-place finishes between 2012 and 2016.
The idea that visiting players might face similar treatment at the World Cup prompted FIFA president Gianni Infantino to promise to halt or abandon matches in case of any hint of abuse from the crowd.
“It is absolutely not tolerable and we will be very, very firm on that,” Infantino said on Monday.
Russia’s football governing body has been trying to clean up its act and organisers say they recorded no racist episodes when they hosted the Confederations Cup -- the World Cup warmup -- this year.
But intertwined with that scourge is hooliganism -- a cul- ture deeply rooted due to some clubs’ affiliation with rival wings of the armed forces as well as the inherent ill will between Moscow and the largely neglected provinces.
Hooliganism experts say Russia’s powerful FSB security service has cracked down hard on football gangs and blacklisted many of their leaders as the World Cup nears.
Russia is also using Fan ID cards requiring visitors and locals alike to undergo security checks before they can enter a stadium.
Authorities will particularly want to avoid the scenes in Marseille during Euro 2016 when Russian hooligans beat up England fans in bloody clashes that one participant from Moscow said felt “like winning against Brazil”. Football dignitaries and international media will converge on the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow on Friday for the eagerly anticipated draw. The ceremony is due to kick off at 15:00 GMT (20:30 IST), with a host of familiar faces from the world of football set to be involved.
It will be televised across the world, while FIFA will follow the action closely with a live blog. The 32 teams are split into four pots, with Russia and the seven highest-ranked nations in Pot one, and lowest-ranked teams in Pot four. Each group will have one team from each pot, but there will be restrictions in terms of teams from the same confederations.
There can be no more than two European nations in any one group, while there may only be a single country from each of the other confederations.
It starts on June 14 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and will see hosts Russia face a team from Pot two. The group stage will run for two weeks, with the knockout phase then beginning on June 30. The final will take place on July 15, with the Luzhniki the setting once again.