By Vestnik Kavkaza
Today the first stadium for holding the FIFA World Cup 2018 was opened in Moscow. It was the arena of Spartak Moscow FC – Arena Otkrytie. The opening ceremony was visited by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, who talked with Luzhniki Stadium, Saransk and St. Petersburg through video-bridge to find out how preparations for the World Cup were going on in other places. Despite the fact that Russia plans to build and reconstruct 12 stadiums for World Cup 2018, FIFA is ready to agree to 9 arenas, worrying about difficulties with financial support and term delays.
Valery Gazayev, a holder of UEFA Cup, an Honored Coach of the USSR, thinks that to hold World Cup 2018 successfully, Russia needs not only new stadiums and infrastructure, but also reforms in Russian football in general.
The team of experts and analysts, including representatives of such major companies as Ricewaterhouse consulting company and CMS, has already written a program of development of Russian football. According to Gazayev, there are several key goals for Russian football today, and they should be reached as soon as possible. “First of all, it is a strong and competitive championship. It would be great to create it the next year, as we have no time to lose. Secondly, we should improve the playing of our national team and our clubs in the international arena. You remember quite well that successful playing of our clubs (CSKA and Zenit) in 2005-2008 contributed to victories of both clubs in the international arena, and secondly, to successful playing of our national team, which won bronze medals in the European Cup 2008,” Gazayev recalled.
According to him, the third goal is changes in club economics. “Today almost all Russian clubs depend on state budget to this or that extent. Such sponsorship cannot be stable. So clubs which are leaving championships experience great difficulties with finances, especially those who depend on regional budgets… At the moment there are 108 professional clubs in the Russian championships, and 80 of them are sponsored by regional budgets. If we look at European experience, for example, there are 26 thousand professional clubs in Germany, and only 56 of them are financed by the state budget… Moreover, teams which depend on state support through state companies do not meet requirements of financial fair-play. Of course there is a risk of big fees or being banned in UEFA Cups, it concerns leading clubs,” Valery Gazayev explains.
According to him, the fourth goal is promotion of football which has declined to third place in the rating of the most popular sports in Russia. “Today hockey and figure skating take 1st and 2nd places. Our task is to return football lovers to stadiums and viewers to TV-screens,” Gazayev says.
He suggests concentrating on two professional divisions – the Premier League and the First League, where 54 clubs will play: “The Premier League should include 18 clubs. The First League will be divided into three divisions – the West, the Center, and the East – in each of them 12 clubs will play. So, we will extend the geography of the participants in the First League and it will positively influence the development of football. At the same time, the geographic division will enable clubs and fans to save money on transport. The Second League will be semi-professional. I think it should be divided into 6 divisions, in each of which 12 clubs will play high-standard football.”
