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Q&A with Alexey Sorokin, Chief Executive of the Russia
World Cup Bid
by James Corbett
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Sorokin promises big investment to build new
stadia and revamp existing venues (Getty Images)
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In this exclusive interview, Alexey Sorokin explains why
landing the World Cup is vitally important for Russia. He talks about
investment to improve stadia infrastructure, the lessons learned from
two Olympic bids and plans to lobby FIFA Executive Committee members.
It's the latest in our series of Q&As with the 10 bids vying to stage
the 2018 or 2022 World Cup. The other bids come from: Australia, England,
Holland-Belgium, Indonesia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Russia, and Spain-Portugal.
Sorokin is a former diplomat for Russia, deputy chairman of the Moscow
Sports Committee and the current CEO of the Russian football federation.
The 37-year-old, who is fluent in English and French, brings a wide range
of sports industry experience to the country's bid to land the 2018 or
2022 World Cup.
He was involved in a number of key sports projects in Russia including
the Moscow 2012 Olympics campaign and successful bids for the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympic Games and the 2013 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
Sorokin also had an important role in Moscow's 2010 Youth Olympic Games
bid and the organization of the 2008 UEFA Champions League final in the
Russian capital.
After serving as project leader in the organization of last year's Champions
League final, Sorokin took up his post as chief executive at the Russian
FA.
- Why Russia, and what does your bid concept offer?
- It's a simple and a complex question at the same time. Russia is
a great emerging power and we would like to emerge in every respect. One
of the aspects is, of course, sports, and football is the number one sport
in Russia by far. It's no secret that we've won the right to host the
[2014] Winter Olympic games [in Sochi]. I think the World Cup would be
another great event to not only display what we have achieved but to show
the new Russia [and], with transparency, the power that it has accumulated
over recent decades.
But also an event to leave a substantial legacy for future generations.
It would certainly be an event that left a state-of-the-art sports infrastructure
in our country, not to mention the upgrade of transport networks, of hotel
businesses. In addition to that we have enough experience in organizing
major sporting events. We can certainly guarantee the world a spectacular
World Cup.
- Does the fact that Russia has never hosted a major international
footballing event work in your favor?
- It's another factor, yes. It's another big factor. We've never
had a European Championship Finals or World Cup, so we think that it's
time for this to happen. Recent years saw the rise of football in our
country, despite the fact that we didn't qualify [for the 2010 World Cup].
Generally, we've been performing well. We're sixth in the world rankings,
a result we've never achieved for many, many years. All these things coming
together are a good basis to found our idea for the World Cup.
- What financial resources do you have for the bid and for investment
if your campaign is successful?
- The bid currently has a public budget of $20 million. We expect
a similar amount of money to come from private sources.
With respect to how much would be invested into organization [of a World
Cup] is difficult to say. We do have to build about 10 stadiums. Some
of them will be built new, some of them will be renovated. It's a big
investment, but one that we're prepared to do anyway. These are all regions
where football is well developed and will certainly be developed in the
future, so there will be good use of the infrastructure investment to
come.
- Will this infrastructure investment be publicly funded?
- It's going to be a joint effort. Some of the money will come from
the federal government, some from regional government and some from private
investors. In some of the cases there is exclusively private resources,
with the region only providing a plot of land for free, so it's kind of
a joint effort - federal, municipal, private.
- What lessons have you taken from two Olympic bids - the Moscow
2012 campaign and the successful Sochi 2014 effort?
- It's been quite an experience. We know what the bidding process
is about. It's a very peculiar thing. We have many relationships that
have been built, with our partners, with media. In general, previous bids
were a chance to show the world about Russia and this bid will not be
any different. We will simply tell the world about what we have achieved
and what we expect to achieve in the future.
- Given the difficulties in acquiring a Russian visa from an EU country
and the heavy police and army presence at the recent Russia v Germany
World Cup qualifier, what measures will you take to make FIFA's flagship
event a more fan-friendly experience?
- I'm sure by 2018 there will be no visas, because Russia is fully
prepared to abolish visas processes. We're just waiting for an okay from
the European Union and other countries to do that, as we did during the
2008 Champions League final. Then we said everyone who comes with a ticket
comes without a visa and it was beneficial experience. There were no complaints.
In terms of the Russia v Germany match, I was actually the one who organized
it. Even though there was a police presence around the stadium, you could
not say there was heavy police presence inside the stadium. You saw stewards
and stadium security, but no police. It shows that we have a very good
arrangement with the fans union, and fans' tribunes are now self-policed,
which is very good. It worked out very good.
- But Arsenal's could you have the sort of Fan Fests witnessed in
Germany if there are six or seven police cordons on the approach to the
stadium?
- We are certainly able to arrange Fan Fests and fan areas, which
we did at the Champions League final, which were very successful. They
were our idea and fully accepted by UEFA. During the World Cup we certainly
plan to do the same and don't see any problem with that. We will certainly
play it safe, but that doesn't mean we won't organize a big celebration.
- What are the benefits of hosting a World Cup on domestic football?
And do you think FIFA might penalize you for some problems it has encountered,
such as low attendances, crowd violence and corruption?
- In order for people to come to the stadiums, they need to know
where they are coming. They need to know that the stadium they're going
to is spectacular and nothing short of a true celebration can be organized.
Right now we have come to the point where we are impeded by our own infrastructure
and it needs to be modernized. We think that if we have good stadiums,
more people will come and there will be a better climate for matches.
Our football will benefit better stadiums for sure. Also we want to build
infrastructure so that FIFA and UEFA would know that they can rely on
Russia for any event and any level of tournament.
- Tell us about the passion of Russian fans and how that might benefit
the bid?
- I think that it's close to being exemplary. We have many, many
federations tell us that the way Russian fans are cheering their team,
they've never seen anything like it. The overall performance at stadiums
is like a grand show - not by amateurs. Some people believe that TV people
organize all this, but it's the general public. The level of coordination
of fans is now unprecedented during home international matches.
- What are the milestones for the Russia bid in 2010?
- We have a big year ahead of us. We certainly hope to qualify for
Euro 2012. We will have a new federation president who I'm sure will be
enchanted by the bid. The leading role is already given to First Deputy
Prime Minister [Igor] Shuvalov by decree of the Russian Government signed
by [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin. He is chairman of the bid and his
authority is hard to beat.
- Finally, how is the lobbying of FIFA Executive Committee members
going?
- Has anyone answered this question yet? There will be lots of opportunities
to meet them professionally. One is during the Russian commonwealth football
tournament in January, which is organized every year. It is the former
Soviet clubs who were first in their national tournaments. They come to
Russia and participate. It's an event where [Michel] Platini, [Sepp] Blatter
and a bunch of other [FIFA] Executive Committee members come over to meet
the presidents of all the ex-soviet federations. There are many other
opportunities like this. Plus, we are lucky that we have [Russian sports
minister and bid leader] Vitaly Mutko as a member of the FIFA Ex-co and
he can meet his colleagues at any time.
Worldfootballinsider.com,
January 7, 2010
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