Several hours after Portugal and Iran had drawn 1-1 in Saransk last Monday evening, a group of people were sitting on the terrace of a cafe, drinking and chatting as the sun came up. “I love Russia, this has been the best two weeks of my life,” said Sanjiv, an Indian football fan who followed Portugal in the finals because he likes Cristiano Ronaldo. An Iranian couple and an Australia fan nodded in agreement.
“The tournament has been amazing for my city but you’ll all be gone soon, and we have to stay here,” said Sergei, a local medical student.
As the quarter-finals of the World Cup approach, many of the host cities have seen their final games. Gone are Saransk, Volgograd, where England played their first game against Tunisia; and Kaliningrad, which hosted their final group match against Belgium; as well as Ekaterinburg, the venue farthest east. In less than two weeks, the whole tournament will be over.
Moscow, of course, is used to hosting major events, and was undergoing a major urban regeneration programme that was timed well for the World Cup. St Petersburg is also no stranger to hordes of tourists, Kazan is a sports-mad city whose football team have made numerous forays into the Champions League, and Sochi hosted the Winter Olympics four years ago.
But outside of these four cities, the other host venues have dealt with an influx of foreign visitors like they’ve never seen before. In most, there has been frenzied construction and investment in infrastructure, though it has often been accompanied by predictable allegations of corruption. In almost all the cities, people say the developments in infrastructure and urban regeneration carried out before the World Cup are welcome. Most Russians living in host cities have happily put up with the disruption, road closures and security checks that have accompanied the tournament itself, because the atmosphere has been so great. But the big question is what happens now that the circus is leaving town.
Saransk was the most surprising and least expected place to be given host city status. With a population of a little over 300,000, even many Russians knew nothing of the town and questioned why it needed a stadium that fits one in eight of the entire population. The town received significant investment, with a new airport, a widespread urban regeneration programme and a construction boom, and the centre of town is now green and pleasant.
In Saransk was a remarkable influx of fans for a place that previously hosted almost no tourism: first came the tens of thousands of Peruvians following the team at their first World Cup for 36 years. Then came the equally boisterous Colombians for their game with Japan, for which Japan’s Princess Takamado also visited. And then the biggest game of all: Iran against Portugal, with Ronaldo spending a night in the city, to the amazement of all including the police guarding his hotel who whispered in awe to each other about the famous guest.
“Everyone is happy, it’s been great, though everyone is talking about what the city will be like afterwards,” said Yegor, a 42-year-old small‑business owner from Saransk. “We’re worried we’ll feel like we’re in a horror film, all these wide avenues and suddenly none of the people we got used to being here. I don’t think anyone regrets us having the World Cup. Of course, a lot of money was stolen, but they built so much stuff. Before they weren’t building anything but still stealing. So on balance it was good.”
In all the host cities, police have taken a relaxed attitude to revellers. Drinking in public spaces can result in a fine during normal times; gathering with flags and banners is a recipe for quick arrest. But during World Cup month the police have turned a blind eye, leading to the extraordinary scenes most evenings in central Moscow of hundreds of young people holding an impromptu street disco across the square from Lubyanka, infamous headquarters of the KGB, now the FSB.
The question on many people’s minds is whether the World Cup will go down as a turning point and usher in a new mood in the country, or whether it will be remembered as a dream-like month when normal service was only briefly interrupted.
“A holiday lets you look at the normal flow of life in a different way. There are pluses and minuses here, but we understand that after a celebration life has to continue,” said Evgeny Roizman, the former maverick mayor of Ekaterinburg who was forced out of government this year.
In Kaliningrad, even government critics accept that the city’s transformation ahead of the tournament was welcome. “The central part has become much nicer; many buildings have been renovated and buildings that were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s with little thought of urban planning have been turned into nice and pretty buildings,” said Yuri Grozmani, acting editor of a local newspaper. “Visitors have the impression that they’re in a historic city, and it just feels like a nicer place.”
The paper’s former editor Igor Rudnikov was jailed last year, which his colleagues believe was in revenge for his coverage of corruption among local officials. He said it was ironic that fans were free to march through the centre but small demonstrations in support of the newspaper have been swiftly dispersed.
“Kaliningrad has always been a relative island of freedom in Russia, partly because of our geographical location, but in recent months things have been getting significantly worse,” said Grozmani. “The World Cup has been a good distraction for people to forget about what is really going on.”
Additional reporting by Andrew Roth.
