Russian amateur footballers gain little from World Cup

BALABANOVO, Russia: While Russia spent billions renovating its stadiums for the World Cup, the situation for many players far from the spotlight leaves much to be desired, as can be attested by the kids from Balabanovo FC, who have trouble actually playing football on their bumpy pitch with faded lines.

A couple of dozen spectators, mostly friends and family of the players on the U13 team, sat in outdoor seats in the main stadium of the town of 20,000 to watch the local boys vie against Melodia FC to win the title in their region of Kaluga south of Moscow.

At the Balabanovo stadium, the gaps in the grass and bumps discourage the players from trying to improve their passing game too much. Instead they favour long shots forward, hoping the ball doesn’t make a bad bounce.

Across Russia there hundreds of similar stadiums. That explains in part why amateur football is relatively underdeveloped: less than 2,000 teams across the world’s largest country, a fact which worries the Russian Football Union.

In comparison, the RFU noted last year that 160,000 amateur teams from 25,000 clubs take to the pitch each weekend in Germany.

Hosting the World Cup could have helped the sport in Russia, but except for a few training camps used by the qualifying national teams, very few new pitches have been created.

The World Cup matches which kick off on June 14 will be played in Moscow and 10 other cities.

Most of the roughly $ 11 billion invested into the World Cup went into the renovation of stadiums and improving transportation infrastructure, including airports, and will leave little help for Russian amateur footballers.

“I’m looking forward to the World Cup, but I’m going to watch it at home on television,” said Roman Kirilovsky, a 21-year- old engineering student from the nearby town of Borovsk, saying ticket prices were beyond his means.

“Yes, we’re happy and proud. But it seems to me they could have done more for regions like this.”

Nearly every weekend Kirilovsky plays with friends on Borovsk’s field, which is f looded over in winter to serve as an ice hockey rink. “We don’t have anywhere to play, there is no club, just small local competitions we organise,” he said.

Whether they are part of a club or not, most of Russia’s young football players will be watching the World Cup matches at home. — AFP