Russians thrilled by World Cup’s kick off, despite looming pension and tax reforms · Global Voices
Russian and foreign fans celebrate together after the host's victory over Saudi Arabia on the tournament's opening, on June 14. Photo: Screenshot/Youtube DW
The World Cup officially began on June 14th, with organizers expecting one million visitors to come to Russia despite several countries issuing travel warnings for this year's host.
Some of those visitors have reported being rather impressed with the infrastructure in Moscow, where the tournament’s opening match took place. With the capital's public authorities pouring millions of robles on urban renovations over the past several years, this hardly comes as a surprise.
With the effect of soft power on display for the rest of the world to see, how have Russians been reacting to the influx of large, wild crowds of foreigners?
If social media is a good indicator, not bad at all: Russians are gladly joining the party in the streets and online.
Just like the rest of the world , they seem to be fond of the Peruvian fanbase in particular — the South American team hasn't played in a World Cup since the 1982 tournament in Spain.
Перуанцы тоооооп! pic.twitter.com/yoXjG6LDdB
— <PERSON> (@aamatinyan) 13 июня 2018 г.
Peruvians are the beeeeest!
До Чемпионата мира по футболу остались сутки, но болельщики уже празднуют в Москве. Аргентинцы и арабы танцуют на Никольской улице, перуанцы и иранцы поют на Тверской — москвичи снимают и присоединяются https://t.co/5qKAuKVDAn pic.twitter.com/WoZSNln4Pu
— <PERSON> (@tjournal) 13 июня 2018 г.
The World Cup is still a few days away, but fans are already celebrating in Moscow. 910
Argentinians and Arabs are dancing on Nikolskaya street, Peruvians and Iranians are singing on Tverskaya. Muscovites are filming and joining in.
But not everyone has been looking forward to the massive crowds of football fans. Since late 2017, students from Moscow State University have been opposing FIFA's plan to set one of their Fan Fest venues on their campus.
The FIFA Fan Fest venues — or the “fan zone”, as it's called in Russian — are spaces with large screens where crowds can watch the matches free of charge, and they have popped up all over Russia. The Moscow State students claimed that boisterous crowds on campus would pose an audio nuisance and a security risk, given the propensity of sports fans to become inebriated.
Students reported being subjected to harassment from state security officers and the school's administration over the course of the campaign, which turned out to be only slightly successful: the organizers agreed to move the fan zone a hundred feet away from where it was originally planned, although it's still technically inside the university. 602