Nearly two months have passed since France’s 4-2 victory against Croatia in the final brought the curtain down on Russia’s World Cup. The party brought by hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors and millions of locals has left town.
The colour and vibe brought to the streets of Russia’s cities by foreign visitors interacting with locals for five weeks was and will remain a great legacy of the tournament. However, perhaps it is not just foreigners who will leave a legacy post-WC. Russians are also doing their bit too post-WC and helping to quell the major pre-tournament fear that the World Cup stadia may become white elephants.
An unexpectedly large attendance spike
Adverts for RPL broadcaster Match Premier state the phrase “Rossiya Lyubit Futbol” (Russia Loves Football) and based on attendance figures so far, it is difficult to dispute this. After six rounds, the RPL has an average attendance of 19,847 spectators per game. This figure is a substantial increase
Even Russian football’s second tier, the FNL has seen a huge spike in attendance. So far in 2018-19, the 20 FNL clubs have recorded an average attendance of 5,649 spectators, last season, the league’s average was 2,633 spectators. This doubling of the average attendance is made even more impressive by the fact that four of the 20 teams in the FNL are Chertanovo Moscow, a team whose main focus is their academy and junior development and who play in a small 500 capacity stadium and the reserve teams of Spartak, Zenit and Krasnodar.
The combined attendance of three of the first six matchdays this season are in the top six 6 of all time in the RPL since 2001 according to Sport-Express. So, is this attendance spike the sign of a long-term post-WC legacy starting to build, or is it just temporary post-WC tourism?
The Population Factor
Eleven cities hosted matches in the 2018 World Cup and the big spike in attendances mainly comes from these cities and the new or upgraded stadiums for the tournament. Eight of these cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Kazan and Volgograd all have populations of over one million inhabitants. With such large is across the World Cup host cities, conditions for a sustainable legacy post-World Cup are there.
The Historically well-supported Club Factor
One argument that could be made to suggest that the attendance spike post-WC is that some of the host city stadiums have historically famous and/or
Krylia in three games at the Samara Arena
Large attendances increases at these two clubs could easily be put down to stimulation of people in these two cities to revisit their teams on the back of Sbornaya’s excellent WC performance.
Unfamiliar Football Fever in historically less famous clubs
However, it is not just teams with a historical level of success or support which have seen their attendances jump. Take the example of
Nizhny Novgorod is another example of a place without a major footballing history, yet like Saransk, its local team FC Nizhny Novgorod are averaging 23,180 spectators from four home games so far.
These large attendances at teams and cities with no great footballing history or success hint at this current surge in crowd support for league football in Russia being more than just post World Cup tourism.
Other Factors and which clubs could be most set to profit from this post-WC attendance?
There are other factors in play which could come to determine whether or not the post-WC boom is just merely tourism or a genuine boost for the club game in Russia. The first of these factors is the approaching winter. Temperatures from the end of October until the start of the three month winter break in domestic football at the start of December drop considerably. Getting fans to attend matches regularly when the temperature drops sub-zero will be a big challenge.
However, conversely, one could also argue that the clubs who play in these modern stadiums built for the World Cup have access to far better facilities than in previous years. All the World Cup stadiums are modern and the stands all have side shields and roofs to protect fans from the cold and often snowy conditions. There will likely be a drop in attendances at games as the cold weather will play a part, but the improved facilities will hopefully mean it is less of a drop than in previous years.
Another factor in whether or not the clubs in the World Cup stadiums can maintain these so-far impressive attendance figures is success on the pitch. Rostov
Recent news could however harm these promising developments at Rostov. A rap concert arranged at the Rostov Arena by the regional government. has raised fears that the pitch could be badly damaged as a result of the concert and Rostov might not be able to play there for the remainder of the season. Hopefully these fears are averted and Rostov can see out all or the majority of the season at their new pride and joy. If they can keep it up, European football here would bring some amazing nights to the Caucasus.
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