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Krasnodar was controversially overlooked as a World Cup host city, in favour of other southern locations Rostov and Sochi | StadiumDB

While World Cup matches in 2018 were only hosted in eleven lucky cities, the reach of the tournament was nationwide. In the season following the World Cup, attendances for the World Cup Stadia, on the whole, remained very positive.

However, there was a definite upturn in attendances and football interest in the provincial clubs. This season, the RPL attracted over 4 million spectators, a record for the league. Looking at cities like Grozny, Tula, Ufa and Krasnodar, consistently large or above average attendances can be observed.

🔝 Матчи #РПЛ в сезоне-2018/19 посетили 4 036 196 болельщиков!

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Спасибо каждому! Вы – лучшие. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ZTuYVgF5jK — Российская Премьер-Лига (@rfpl) May 26, 2019

For Arsenal Tula, there was a breathtaking season which saw them qualify for the Europa League. Outside the big four and the World Cup stadia, they had the highest average attendance in the league, despite a stadium of just 20,000 capacity.

Looking as far down as the Russian third tier, the PFL, the end of the season witnessed some terrific attendances even toward the end of the season, as the weather improved. In Ivanovo, over 5,000 came out to watch Tekstilshchik secure promotion, while in Bryansk, over 4,000 turned up to watch Dinamo Bryansk, in a game which meant nothing for either side. Overall, during the entire 2018/19 PFL season, 20 sides (out of 57) averaged over 1,000 spectators.

In the FNL, five sides, only one of which occupy a World Cup stadium, achieved a season-long average of 40% stadium capacity, including FNL champions FC Tambov, Torpedo Armavir and FC Sibir. Following their relegation, Sibir is likely to be dissolved, while a new team for the city, FC Novosibirsk, was formed instead with the support of authorities.

But, it’s not just attendances that have been impacted in Russia’s smaller cities.

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The Next Generation

A big part of the legacy of sporting events, World Cup or Olympic, is inspiring the next generation to get involved. The huge success of Russia’s national side during the tournament resulted in an increase in the number of kids playing football.

Around 20km from the Kazakh border is the city of Orenburg, home of FC Orenburg. Sponsored by Gazprom, and back in the RPL one year after being relegated, the oilmen had a great season, finishing comfortably in mid-table. However, their youth side fared a lot worse, finishing bottom of the RPL youth league.

Evgeniy Kirsanov is an Orenburg native and his son plays in the Orenburg academy. Having contacted RFN in the past to ask for advice on player development, and lamenting the poor training available in his city, he noted a positive change since the World Cup.

After the victory over Spain, the national team became heroes. This is the biggest change after the World Cup. But second, after this, is the number of children who wanted to start playing football. Since I attend my son’s training sessions, I can say that in the Autumn of 2018, there were two or three times more kids attending the academy.

Krasnodar currently has one of the best football academies in Europe. Formed less than 10 years ago, the club experienced an almost meteoric rise with the support of wealthy owner Sergey Galitskiy. This season, they qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever.

The vision of Galitskiy to produce talent through the academy not only attracts local boys but teenagers from all over the country as well. This season, their attendances have grown, the first batch of academy talents have made their full debuts, and interest in football has definitely grown.

According to Igor Popovich, a Krasnodar native, it’s not just children who have become more interested in football.

People of all ages began to be interested in this sport, which is confirmed by the increase in attendance at football matches this season, and the filled Galitskiy Park amphitheatre during the away game broadcasts. The World Cup was also a great inspiration for children to start playing in football pitches or just out in their yards. There are good conditions here in Krasnodar.

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Is Russia A Footballing Nation?

It was very interesting to note the differing attitudes to the World Cup, even during the tournament, in cities across Russia. Football competes with ice hockey as the country’s biggest sport, and some cities, therefore, have seen fewer impacts.

In Perm, Ilya Morozov laments the lack of football ongoing. With local side Amkar Perm collapsing two years ago, the city’s only club now is Zvezda Perm, in the PFL. Despite being a CSKA fan himself, there is a lot less for Ilya to get excited about football-wise in his city, though there was great interest during the World Cup.

The city was excited because matches were shown live in parks and squares. But, nothing much has changed here. Tourists came to Perm regardless of the World Cup because of our culture. We have three well-known, respected and prestigious theatres. Also, Perm ballet school is one of the best in Russia.

A city with footballing history and interest, despite its sad recent past. In contrast, the city of Chelyabinsk, an 8-hour drive south of Perm, witnessed a very different World Cup experience.

Perm, another city overlooked in the selection process has seen very little change – especially with main club Amkar Perm collapsing in 2017 | Creative Commons

Andrey Zhakov is a football fanatic who works part-time for EA Sports on the FIFA games series. He said that Chelyabinsk’s history as a hockey city meant there was nothing really put on for the World Cup.

In Chelyabinsk, nothing was done before the tournament, and even during the World Cup, there were no special venues to watch matches on big screens. The only thing I saw, was some Peruvians, who passed through the city during the tournament itself. In this city, more attention is paid to hockey. Sadly, interest in football remained at about the same level as it was before the World Cup.

It’s a big shame that Russia’s 7th biggest city has only one football team, which is currently in the PFL and has only ever reached the FNL twice in its 40-year history. But, it’s a hockey city. Traktor Chelyabinsk is by no means a world beater, but they are competitive enough to have achieved top 5 finishes in the KHL in the past 10 years.

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Russians Love Sbornaya

The thing that almost everyone can agree on is the current adoration for their national side. Almost every home game for Russia since the tournament featured a sellout crowd, such as the games recently held in Saransk and Nizhny Novgorod.

But the national team, as Kirsanov said to RFN, “have become heroes.” Throughout the entirety of last season, wherever Artem Dzyuba went, he was mobbed by fans of away sides. Scores of fans greeted him outside the stadium in Ufa after Zenit played there in August, despite scoring one of the goals that saw Zenit win 2-0.

Every match where one of the big stars played, Dzyuba or Akinfeev primarily, fans in the stands held banners asking for the player’s shirts.

Everyone we have interviewed, whether from the cities detailed in this article, or the host cities themselves, agreed that there was an increased interest in football thanks for the Sbornaya’s performance at the World Cup. Hosting the tournament itself would have had a lasting impact on its own, but the added bonus of the national team reaching the quarter-finals has just multiplied everything to the nth degree.

In the offseason, Zenit have taken a soccer school on a tour of the country, starting off in Vladivostok, and city hopping eastwards to Omsk, and then Tyumen. Further ahead on their journey, Zenit will stop off at Chelyabinsk, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd and then finally a 10-day festival back home in St Petersburg.

The “Big Football Festival” as it’s been named, aims to get kids aged 8-12 playing football, and more importantly for Zenit perhaps, spreading their image. With last summer’s football excitement coming in the shape of the World Cup, for the kids in these cities, this summer gives them the chance to get involved with the league champions and play football, keeping their interest in the sport high.

It’s a great initiative from the club, and for cities like Chelyabinsk and Perm, where football has no real foothold at present, a small glimmer, if anything, of what football has to offer to them.

The World Cup’s impact on the non-tournament cities is variable, but it’s something that’s being built on every year. New clubs are being formed. attendances are rising, the Russian third tier is now starting to develop it’s own footballing culture, despite the vastness and the problems that come with five regionalised divisions. The FNL is growing in strength year on year, and the interest in the league has perhaps never been so high, on a public or sporting level, with rising attendances being matched with foreign scouts observing the league.

It is too early to assess the success of the world cup on Russia’s “other” cities. Early signs are mixed, and there are always negatives which chip away at any positives. But, it’s a long term effect. The restructuring of the league system and new rules on foreign players and homegrown players will help shape the future, and, though perhaps unwise in the Russian football scene, there is hope.