AuthorJeffEyesRimmer We will soon know the remainder of the teams that will be contesting the Russia FIFA World Cup in 2018, with the final games being played in the next week or so. Ever since the announcement of Russia being granted the right to host World Cup in 2018 there has been plenty of coverage of the problems it will face. There have been many articles, radio calls, podcasts and general discussions about the appropriateness of Russia hosting the World Cup and the legality around the selection of them at FIFA headquarters. It seems that the majority of the football world considers it likely to be an awful World Cup. However, putting aside those (many) arguments for a minute, what are the reasons why the FIFA World Cup in 2018 in Russia will be a success? Firstly the Confederations Cup this year was deemed as a success by all those involved. The Confederations Cup is often seen as the trial run for the World Cup and by all accounts it was a successful tournament for Russia (not on the pitch mind). On the whole delegations from the teams present at the Confederations Cup indicated they had a great reception in Russia.
The major success that most will highlight was that it passed by without an incident. Trouble in the form of hooliganism has often been associated with the Russian fans and for many valid reasons (Euros anyone?) but the Confederations Cup showed that the authorities could deal with the fans both in and around the grounds. Additionally and importantly the fans were on their best behaviour during the tournament. Former Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko spoke this week about the potential security issues "There is a misconception that going to Russia will see lots of people getting hurt, punched and attacked. Anyone who comes here can see that it's not like that’’. In truth the talk that came out of the tournament was of how welcoming the Russia fans were. They want to paint their country in a good light and that was evident in the Confederations Cup. When there was an issue, like with Chilean journalist Diego Saez, who was charged 50,000 roubles (£650) for the cab fare from the airport to the city – a £20 ride. The local authorities tracked down the cab driver, who promptly handed all the money back and offered to drive Saez around for free for the duration of the tournament. While this might be a rare occurrence, both for the incident and police speed to deal with it, it does show that there are mechanisms ready. The Confederations Cup also highlighted that the tournament was well organised and this is something that will carry over for the World Cup. While there have been rumblings of the budget being over by $600 million the fact that the stadiums are on schedule is a luxury that the last two World Cups in Brazil and South Africa didn’t have. Trialled at the tournament and that will carry over for the World Cup next year, any fan with a ticket was eligible to bypass Russia’s visa process. One of the key features to the Fan ID, which is worn as a lanyard with a photographic ID, is that supporters without tickets were not and will not be able to get into matches. So countries which are traditionally followed by large groups of ticketless fans, like England for instance, may see their fan numbers reduced. This actually might be a good thing, while it might reduce the atmosphere outside the games it will help lower the likelihood of large groups encountering each other similar to the Euros. It might actually help prevent the hooliganism that have so many worried. Signs in English were placed across the host cities, and help points placed at strategic locations in the Moscow and St Petersburg metro systems. This all helped towards the fan experience and is expected to increase for the main event next year. Volunteers were at the airports and train stations to direct visitors to free transport to the stadiums too. Other benefits included free bus, Metro and train travel in and between host cities. The matches will be hosted by 11 major Russian cities: Moscow, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg and Sochi - the capital of the XXII Winter Olympic Games in 2014. All have stadiums that can accommodate the World Cup and have either been recently built or improved. While the distance to travel seems daunting for fans there is for instance a well-established Metro system between Moscow and St. Petersburg, that enables easy access to all match venues. The Spartak Stadium for instance is less than 100 yards from the recently opened Spartak station. Sochi is a beachfront stadium which is easily accessible on foot if you are staying in the resort. All the host cities are accessible from Moscow’s four airports too. One big selling point I think that has been overlooked is the environment of Russia. It gets plenty of rainfall and in the case of St Petersburg stadium too much for it to handle (the pitch is in a poor state). This means that we should see a lovely green World Cup and while that might sound ridiculous just remember the next World Cup in 2022 is in a desert! There are still plenty of serious problems facing the Russian World Cup but there are some good things. |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
Categories
All
|