By Andrew Warshaw
April 2 – Russia’s landslide 2018 World Cup ballot victory over England has resulted in English referees discriminating against Russian players.
That is the remarkable claim made by former Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (pictured right) who says that bias towards his English-based compatriots played a part in his leaving the Premier League to return to his homeland to join Spartak Moscow.
“I can say with total certainty that the atmosphere took a turn for the worse after we beat them to the rights to host the World Cup,” Bilyaletdinov said on Russian television.
To suggest that officiating on the pitch was in any way connected with the 2018 World Cup vote is, at best, fanciful.
But Bilyaletdinov said: “The referees didn’t have much sympathy for us.
“All other things being equal, you’d lose out.
“I left maybe not just for this reason, but what happened, happened.”
What is clear is that media claims of corruption and vote-buying by senior FIFA executives during and after the selection process for the World Cup, however justified given the spate of bans and suspensions, left a sour taste in Russia who beat rival candidates England, Spain and Holland/Belgium to the 2018 tournament.
Bilyaletdinov, who has 46 Russian caps and made 59 Premier League appearances in two-and-a-half years at Everton, added: “I felt it in the press, in relationships with people involved in the game.
“Maybe it was subconscious.”
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