The CHAMPIONS LEAGUE final between Chelsea and Manchester United is set for May 21 in Moscow. We don’t know who we feel more sorry for: the fine, upstanding citizens of Moscow or the British fans set to invade one of the world’s most corrupt, crime-ridden burgs.
(Did they commission Beijing for the logo?)
Our favorite development thus far on the game comes from the NEW YORK TIMES, which reports that “Russian officials announced Monday that British soccer fans will be allowed to travel to Moscow for the Champions League final without an entry visa.”
45,000 such Visas are due to be issued. Of course, that is if Russians can muster enough bureaucratic infrastructure for the job (that’s the one area they’ve got covered). And we’re absolutely positive that *welcoming* all those unscreened British *soccer fans* will have no consequences.
So why is Moscow so enthusiastic about welcoming the Brits and making nice-nice?
The Champions League final, along with the Super Bowl, is probably the most-watched sporting event in the world each year. Moscow will be on an enormous stage (albeit sans America). So they obviously don’t want to blow the chance to propagandize the country’s most-current, tyrannical *government*.
The other reason of course is money. From the LONDON GUARDIAN:
Face values on the tickets range from €80 to €200 (£63 - £158). However, the deadline for applications has already closed and the unfortunate thousands who want, but don’t have, tickets will have to turn either to more exclusive vendors or to the black market.
Russian websites are offering fans an oligarch’s-eye view from a comfortable armchair in the stadium’s VIP zone for £6,000.
$12,000 for one ticket to see 90 minutes of soccer? Does that come with a shirtless, judo lesson from Putin?
7:47 pm on May 5th, 2008
British football fans have one of the lowest levels of violence of any away support in Europe. The levels of arrests although not as low as I want it to be are much lower than they were during the 1980s and that the image of football hooligan is a dated one that put across by some of the more mainstream media in the US as it exotica even though there are riots and other problems in the US and Canada over sports events in the past (see the Ice hockey this season in the play off’s)
That the massive changes in the make up of allot of the away support means that most of the traditional hardcore element can’t afford to go to such games at the CL final. In fact manchester united fans and Chelsea go to dozens of games per year across the Europe and there little or no problems. In today Europe most of the problems in football are in eastern Europe and Italy such that i would be more worried by the Russian neo Nazi thugs ambushing the fans on the way and from the ground and beating them up with knifes or worst.
The cost of the ticket is so great because of the fact that United are one of the biggest teams in the world and that it does not help that Chelsea is owned by Russian and that he bought large number of hotel rooms already and that allot of the Russians want to see the game as well and are willing to pay these prices.
7:53 pm on May 5th, 2008
also the fact is the club sports in the US does not have that much away fans vist the grounds. That outside of the red sox’s and Yankees most support outside of few teams such as them come from the local home fan’s that supporting the home team. That if you then add the fact that european fans are travelling to other nations and to places that have different languages and cultures the possibility for problems are greater in european football than in the NFL, NBA or MLB.
11:32 pm on May 5th, 2008
British soccer fans aren’t a problem NOW. But they were. And thanks to insane policing of matches at home and abroad, the British hooligans have been effectively rooted out.
Italians are a far different story.