Smertin still confident on Russian World Cup bid

By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year

September 6 – Former Chelsea midfielder Alexei Smertin has denied fears his country’s World Cup bid is at the centre of a dirty tricks campaign being waged by the UK media.

Many Russians are angry over recent stories that have appeared in the British press, including insideworldfootball, over claims that the country has a problem with racism following a row involving Nigerian striker Peter Odemwingie when he played in the country for Lokomotiv Moscow.

Lokomotiv fans recently unveiled a banner during one of their games aimed at Odemwingie, which showed a banana and said: “Thanks West Brom” – a reference to the player leaving the club to sign for the Premier League club in England.

Alexei Sorokin, the chief executive of Russia’s bid to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, has denied that the banner was racist but the Nigerian Football Federation announced on Saturday (September 2) that they plan to complain to FIFA over the treatment of Odemwingie, who claims he was regularly racially abused while playing in Russia.

Sorokin has claimed that in Russia the phrase “to get a banana” is slang for “to fail a test” and that white Russian players have suffered similar treatment from upset fans.

Several Russian fans have contacted insideworldfootball to back Sorokin’s claim.

Smertin, member of the Altai Territory legislature in Siberia and the sports director of Russia’s bidding committee, has claimed that he does not believe the British media are unfairly targetting their main rivals.

“I can’t say I have [noticed a media campaign against Russia],” he told Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

“Our team always speaks respectfully about the bidding committees of the UK and other countries.

“We wouldn’t even call them rivals, they are bidding nations, and each of them deserves to host the World Cup.”

Smertin is also confident that the row will not harm Russia’s chances.

“Our bid has quite a few strong points,” said Smertin, who also played for Portsmouth, Charlton Athletic and Fulham before retiring in 2008.

“First of all, it is backed by the Government.

“The plan we showed to the FIFA commission has received very substantial support here and will be implemented no matter if we win the bid or not.

“It is critical for the country and sports.

“Through this project, we’ll create the infrastructure to promote mass participation in sports, attract more children and young people to football and improve our performance in competitions.

“Another factor that boosts our chances is that Russia has never hosted the World Cup before - it is a new country for FIFA.

“Clearly, FIFA wants to discover new football nations and even continents, and the recent World Cup in Africa confirms this. From this prospective, we have very good chances.”

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