‘A Feat’ was how Sport-Express, one of Russia’s most prominent sport newspapers, characterized Russia receiving the right to host the 2018 World Cup. “And right now, when the result is known – the 2018 World Cup will take place in Russia – is the very time to say: this was a feat. Nothing is beyond the boundary of the possible,” Dmitry Simonov gushed in that article on the paper’s website.
Easy guys, they don't actually give you the trophy for just hosting (photo courtesy of aif.ru)
Russia was named to host the tournament after a months-long feud with England in which both sides traded barbs about corruption, public drunkenness and, occasionally, the relative merits of each other’s bids. FIFA head Sepp Blatter, who is thought to have long favored Russia’s bid, announced that Russia had gained 13 of 24 votes in the second round of voting, giving it the victory. Russia’s main selling point was that the tournament had never been held in Eastern Europe and, as Simon Kuper writes in the Financial Times, “Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s president, loves filling in the ‘white spots’ on football’s map.”
One of the main points that Russia was attacked on was the perception of collusion and corruption, with two FIFA executive committee members, the collection of middle-aged to old men who voted, were suspended after a series of investigations in the British media implicated them and FIFA as a whole in corruption surrounding the vote. Shockingly, the other committee members accused by the British media of corruption didn’t vote for the English bid. While its a completely unscientific method, I have noticed a lot of people on Facebook who assume that Russia bribed the shit out of FIFA. At this point, there isn’t any hard proof that this happened; Russia would probably still have won. It’s a moot point anyways so I’ll let the Russians do their celebrating.
More reaction from Russia
“For Russia, it’s a big honor,” former Soviet and Russian national team goalkeeper Vitaly Cherchesov told RIA Novosti, adding that Russia had won the right to host the tournament in a ‘fair fight.’
“Arshavin Pleaded for the World Cup for Russia with Tears” tabloid Argumenty i Fakty announced, claiming that Russia’s top player cried upon delivering his speech during Russia’s bid presentation.
Kommersant put a bit of a damper on things, calling the victory an ‘Expensive Pleasure’ (a play on words on ‘Dear Pleasure’ as the word in Russian is the same for both), saying ‘For Russia [the World Cup] could become one of the most expensive and difficult projects in its history’ and pointed to an estimated $3.82 billion price tag for building new stadiums alone.
Even Dmitry Anatolyevich got in on the act, posting on his Twitter ‘Ura! Victory! We got the 2018 World Cup!”
Finally, in what sums it up the best for me was Vasily Utkin’s headline in Sovetsky Sport; “After all, you usually don’t expect good from the guys from FIFA!” Well put, sir.
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