UEFA President Michel Platini with RFU President Sergey Fursenko in St. Petersburg last week during the 100th anniversary of the Russian Football Union.
A number of notable guests rang in the one hundredth anniversary of the Russian Football Union (RFU) during the opening ceremony of the tenth Commonwealth Cup in St. Petersburg on Thursday, January 19.
Prime Minister Putin attended the opening ceremony event alongside RFU President Sergey Fursenko and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and commented on the long history of the union since its creation in St. Petersburg in 1912.The celebrations come a month after the Russian Football Premier League (RFPL) celebrated its own ten year anniversary in Moscow. Giving the headline address at the event, CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros said despite Russia’s long history of success in international competitions, Russia was looking to the future: “It's the 2018 World Cup, which will transform the entire landscape of the country. It's the Russian Premier League, delivering exciting and high quality football weekend after weekend to millions and millions of passionate football fans."
In financial terms, Russia’s soccer landscape is developing into a success story, drawing in sponsors and players from all corners of the globe, a prime example of the country’s growing ties with the rest of the world. Cameroon’s Samuel Eto became one of the five highest paid players in the world in August 2011 after signing a deal with RFPL team Anzhi Makhachkala worth $25.2 million a year. Three Russian teams – CSKA Moscow, Zenit St. Petersburg and Rubin Kazan - also participated in the 2011-2012 season of the UEFA Champion’s League, the world’s top club competition. According to UEFA, every participating club in the tournament received a participation bonus of $5 million plus a match bonus of $708,000 per group game played. Teams were also allocated performance bonuses of $1 million for every win and $515,000 for every draw in the group stage.
Building on this success at the club level, the country is set to host the 2018 Fifa World Cup, with infrastructure projects not only improving existing venues, but building entirely new and modern stadiums along with a massive expansion of Russia’s transportinfrastructure.
Below are a few facts regarding football in Russia:
• The Russian Football Union alone currently has 2.5 million players, 44,000 clubs and over 150,000 teams.
• The Soviet national side won the inaugural European championship in 1960 and reached the event's finals three more times in 1964, 1972 and 1988. They also won two Olympic football titles in 1956 and 1988.
• The Russian national team qualified for the semi-finals of the 2008 European Championships, though failed to make the 2010 World Cup. They recently qualified for the 2012 European Championships, and will face Spain, Sweden and host-nation Ukraine in the qualifying rounds.
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