Zenit enjoying UEFA cup success
Many people, including myself, think the standard of football displayed by the Russian national team and the Russian leagues is greatly improving. The rich oligarchs and development of skilled Russian players over recent years has seen the standard of the post-soviet Russian league rise to international contention, as displayed with the UEFA cup victories of both CSKA Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg. But has football really gripped the nation of Russia in the aftermath of the communist regime? A recent study by dedicated Russian website Championat.ru has discovered some alarming and slightly strange statistics.
In terms of international football, Russia have not been a major force since the days of the USSR and the managerial reign of the methodical Ukrainian Valeriy Lobanovskyi, but the 2004 European Championships gave Russian football a lifeline. The stellar performances of messrs Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko allowed Russia to reinstate themselves as a serious footballing nation. However, the bittersweet elixir of reasonable success only enhanced the problem.
The 2010 World Cup final was the worst cup final since the downfall of the Soviet Union. That, according to the Russian people anyway. Only 28 million people were persuaded to tune in to the world’s most prestigious football match. For a country with a staggeringly large populace, over 139 million, that statistic really does speak volumes.
It is easy to state that the viewing figures for the 2010 World Cup were remarkably low because the Russians themselves narrowly missed out on a World Cup place due to that 1-0 defeat to the Slovenians in Maribor. The fact is, however, that the Russian’s have not only been shunning football on the international stage, they have also been ignoring football domestically. The record low number of viewers for a Russian Premier League match screened on national TV was broken this month. The fateful match between Lokomotiv Moscow and Alania attracted a measly audience of 1.5 million viewers, the lowest for fifty years.
The decline cannot be explained in a mere blog post, it is more likely to warrant a 10,000 word university dissertation piece, but it seems that the majority of Russian people are simply not interested in football.
It is perhaps not surprising given that Russia is such a large country, boasting a total area of 17 million square km. The majority of players in the Russian national team are of western European stock. People of ethnic minorities, living in the less comfortable outer reaches of Vladivostock and Rubtsovsk, may simply have much more vital and important things to worry about than the beautiful game. Yet, somehow the standard of football in Russia and the Russian Premier League is increasing in spite of the apparent lack of interest from the wider Russian community.
Being Canadian and also old enough to remember the '72 Super Series, I can tell you that another reason is that the first sporting love of Russians is hockey.
Although, the quality of play is better than MLS, the RPL is essentially a summer league, due to the severe Russian winter, and therefore out of sync with the rest of Europe. This is another reason that the game isn't as popular with the Moscow sports fan. Being out of step with the major footballing leagues likely makes Russian fans feel like second class citizens.
Still, much like any sport they put their minds to, tennis being a good example, Russian athletes have the strength of mind to excel whether or not they have a legion of fans behind them.
Posted by mpalazzotto | 30 July, 2010, 16:52The Russian league is the sixth best in Europe according to the Uefa ranking, a lot better than the MLS.
Russian clubs work differently compared to most European clubs, most of them have rich owners who put in a lot of money into the clubs, which explains the improving quality of football. Money coming in from television, merchandising and ticket sales come nowhere near that, therefore those areas have been neglected by the clubs. Attendances for Russian league games are quite low and have changed only very little, even though the quality has improved by leaps and bounds. Furthermore Hooliganism is a problem with some clubs and that also has a detrimental effect on attendance I guess.
And maybe some of the stadiums are old and not so hospitable. Recently Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, a league very similar to the Russian, built a brand new stadium and their attendance has increased by about 50%
Posted by CSKAfan | 2 August, 2010, 18:08For some strange reason, MLS doesn't appear in the UEFA rankings, but then, I seem to remember emphasising the difference in quality, when I likened the effects of the harsh winters on the scheduling in both leagues.
Posted by mpalazzotto | 3 August, 2010, 16:35I didn't think Americans did sarcasm?
Posted by Steven Jones | 5 August, 2010, 13:36Not qualified to say, I'm a Canuck. We're famous for it.
Posted by mpalazzotto | 5 August, 2010, 16:00Ha ha – If you were famous for it then you'd have noticed the sarcasm in my comment, I think us Brits do it the best
Posted by Steven Jones | 5 August, 2010, 16:14Onto the article itself – the infrastructure for Russia really doesn't lend itself to a national, competitive league. I wonder if hosting a World Cup may help them?
It's been proven in most other countries that the best teams don't necessarily have to come from the capital, I wonder if they can generate more interest outside of Moscow.
Posted by Steven Jones | 5 August, 2010, 19:24Most of the Russian Premier League teams are relatively close to each other, and if the likes of Tenerife and Las Palmas can operate well within the Spanish league system despite an obvious geographic disparity, then the same should be possible in Russia. And you're right, Zenit are probably the best team right?
They need to look at introducing a culture of match attendance. Something like they have in Germany, where people attend the games out of habit, and because it is very reasonably priced to do so. Russia has a burgeoning middle class that the football clubs are attempting to exploit for commercial gains. But in doing so, they make it harder for the average fan of lesser means to attend games that perhaps they could have afforded to do so a few years ago.
It's something that has already affected Italian football and will do so to English football soon. As it has become more expensive, younger fans have been unable to afford to go to games, and have effectively developed their own culture of watching games on TV rather than attending in person. A lot of fans of bigger clubs in the UK now don't need to attend games to support their teams, they're on TV every week or two anyway. This is what's brought about the worrying culture of people supporting clubs to which they have no association. I dare say a lot of Russian fans will be able to tell you much about the English game. Gone are the days when football was about regional pride and sporting endeavour.
Posted by Morgan Hewlett | 8 August, 2010, 23:26Things have been changed a lot. The games today are more interesting but I still remember the way they played as in the past.
Posted by panic away review | 30 August, 2010, 18:57