Ticket sales are best in America
RUSSIA WORLD CUP: POPULAR WITH LATIN AMERICANS
‘Because going to Russia is not expensive if you buy ahead of time.’ Moscow
Latin American countries have sprung a World Cup surprise by filling Russia’s 11 host cities with tens of thousands of fans. And some of the Europeans who did show up said their friends back home told them they were crazy to go.
The contrasting cast of supporters at the biggest event in sport reflects Russia’s progressive creep away from Europe in the 18 years of President Vladimir Putin’s rule.
Moscow is embracing new allies that worship football and where damning – and often exaggerated – stories about hooligans and poisoning cases are rare.
The added ingredient of a more evenly spread-out global middle-class with the means to travel the world has the streets of Russia dancing to a decidedly Latin beat.
“We didn’t expect it to be this beautiful and the people are amazing,” Mauricio Miranda said as he waved a Colombian flag on the edge of Red Square in Moscow. “We will definitely come back.”
Belgian public relations consultant Jo de Munter does not necessarily disagree. It is his friends who do. “I think Europeans are a bit afraid,” he said, staring in the direction of Lenin’s Mausoleum. “In Belgium, everybody told me I was crazy to go to the football.”
World Cups come in all shapes and sizes and comparing ticket sales rarely tells the whole tale.
Europeans and Latin Americans are naturally more inclined to attend World Cups held in their regions because of the easier travel arrangements and familiarity.
South Africa in 2010 may provide a better example because it was a frontier football country with specific risks.
Yet Fifa figures showed almost 50% more Britons bought tickets for South Africa’s World Cup than this maiden one in eastern Europe. Australians were third but are ninth in Russia.
The US has long led purchases among non-hosting countries because of its massive economy and large communities from football-mad Mexico and other central American communities.
Taking the US out of the equation leaves Latin Americans accounting for two-thirds of the top-10 countries that have bought tickets for Russia.
Alexandro Grado, a former financial consultant who owns a plastics recycling firm, said: “Going to Russia is not expensive if you buy everything ahead of time.”
Yet not all fans can afford to go bar hopping near the Kremlin and sociologists who study the sport say this is where Latin American football federations come in.
Ludovic Lestrelin of France’s Universite de Caen in Normandy said less well-off fans in Europe get less travel and accommodation assistance from state agencies and are increasingly more likely to stay home and watch on TV. –