By Andrew Warshaw
October 8 – Fans of Russian Premier League club Kuban Krasnodar have written to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and FIFA boss Sepp Blatter protesting that their city was not chosen as one of the host venues for the 2018 World Cup.
The southern city of Krasnodar, which boasts two clubs, FC Krasnodar and Kuban, in Russia’s top flight, was overlooked last week when FIFA and Russia 2018 selected the 11 cities that will host the 32-team tournament.
Saransk, the smallest of the contenders and with little football tradition, was considered an outsider but made the list at the expense of Krasnodar.
“We would like to express our outrage regarding the decision to exclude Krasnodar from the list of host cities for the 2018 World Cup,” the Kuban fans said in an open letter addressed to Putin, Blatter and Russia 2018 chairman Vitaly Mutko.
“We also express our mistrust in those officials who had been in charge of picking the host cities.
“There is no other city in Russia where the number one sport is as popular as it is here.
“Despite the fact that Krasnodar’s population is only 750,000 and our club has never won any major trophies, our 30,000-seat stadium has always been filled to capacity.”
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