Facing hurdles, Russia gears up for WC draw
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-billioneuro) gamble for which many of the 11 host cities underwent their first major post-Soviet facelifts with the
It is absolutely not tolerable and we will be very, very firm on that Gianni Infantino
potential to create the same “white elephant” stadiums and hotels left behind by the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
And the 2,500 kilometres 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 culture 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. —