Big Brother hits stadiums in Russia

Fan ID, soccer’s fan identification system, has achieved what even Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine failed to do, emptying stadiums.

For example, only 207 fans attended the match played on Saturday outside Moscow between historic Torpedo and Ural (0-1).

That was the second lowest capacity in the history of the Russian league since its formation in 1992.

The Ministry of Sports and the federation argue that the Fan ID will make it possible to make soccer a family pastime, as in other countries such as Spain or Italy, while reducing the presence of radicals and violence in the fields.

The official argument has not convinced the fans, who do not trust any form of control by the security forces and will maintain their boycott until the withdrawal of the so-called fan passport.

empty stadiums

Fan associations had already boycotted Fan ID before the winter break, considering that it would treat them like criminals, but its incident has now become notable, when this method was applied to eleven six clubs in the division of honor.

In the case of Spartak Moscow, the club with the most fans in Russia, the number of fans in the last two games fell almost three times compared to the fall.

The Otkritie Arena World Cup stadium, with a capacity for more than 45,000 spectators, was attended by 5,002 fans of the Moscow team last weekend.

“Five thousand people in Spartak? I don’t remember when there were so many fans in Spartak. This is Spartak! We played for the fans, but they weren’t there,” Spartak striker Alexandr Sóbolev said after a match .

When an official argued that the reason was the low temperature and not the Fan ID, Sobolev replied: “Even in this weather before there will be at least 20,000 people.”

In CSKA’s case, only 2,680 fans watched as the Russian Army team demolished Krilya Sovetov (4-0), the lowest entry since 2011.

Dynamo drew less than 5,000 fans, compared to the usual 16,000-plus for the “Black Spider” team, Lev Yashin.

The Zenit, or with a retractable roof

The retractable roof of the Gazprom Arena in Saint Petersburg (68,000 seats), protecting the attendees from the bitter cold of winter, did not prevent the presence of fans of the leader of the Russian league, Zenit, from falling 48 %.

An average of 17,835 people attended his team’s two victories with four goals from Brazilian Malcom, a former Barcelona player, since the beginning of March.

In an attempt to increase crowd attendance, the club from the former imperial capital even gave away free tickets to fans.

In addition, it reduced to ten minutes the time required to request and receive a Fan ID at the stadium itself, but it only attracted a thousand followers.

Krasnodar brought together 11,000 fewer fans than usual at home, while 1,664 people attended the Olympic stadium in Sochi (Black Sea).

Even Grozny’s Akhmat, the only club whose fans did not boycott Fan ID, saw attendances drop 22% compared to last year.

Karpin and the press, against the proposal

Russia coach Valeri Karpin, also a Rostov coach, said he had already warned that the introduction of Fan ID would cause problems.

The sports press is also clearly on the side. Not a few journalists described the appearance of the stadiums as disgraceful when Russian football was excluded from international competitions due to the military intervention in Ukraine.

“I don’t know a journalist who is in favor of Fan ID,” a reporter told Efe.

Another prominent columnist admitted that his director forbade him to comment on the matter, which shows the Government’s importance on the matter.

For now, the Kremlin says withdrawing Fan ID “is not on the agenda.”

One indication that Fan ID is the cause of soulless stadiums is that this method is not applied to Russian Cup matches, where the flow is greater, despite playing throughout the week.

Krasnodar fans almost filled the cup stadium with more than 26,000 fans, for a meager 8,000 in the league; the same as Rostov, with 6,300 in the League and 21,000 in the Cup.