By Andrew Warshaw
October 22 – The head of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organizing committee insists that football in his country is not institutionally racist but admits that widely publicised episodes of abuse by fans, combined with instances of hooliganism, were doing nothing to enhance the country’s image.
Ever since Russia was awarded the tournament four years ago Alexei Sorokin (pictured), the public face of its bid, has been at pains to put the issue of racism into perspective.
But a string of recent cases involving Russian clubs, some of them resulting in UEFA sanctions, have once again highlighted an increasingly troublesome problem.
Sorokin told local media on the fringes of FIFA’s recent inspection team visit to 2018 sites that Russia was doing all it could to “root out” fan violence and abuse.
Racism is “a problem that Russia doesn’t need”, Sorokin said, and the 2018 hosts were opposed to “certain people” who “use football matches for self-expression, not to watch football.”
But in a separate interview with CNN, Sorokin added: “While there are individual outbreaks of undesired tendencies, it cannot be regarded as a trend in our country.”
Players such as Yaya Toure have gone as far as suggesting black players might boycott the 2018 tournament because of fears of racism.
“We deeply regret they feel this way,” said Sorokin. “It’s hard to compare the way club competitions are organised and the way the World Cup is organised.”
Sorokin says boycotting the tournament because of the separate issue of the crisis in eastern Ukraine would serve no purpose either.
“We don’t see why the World Cup should be affected by any political developments,” he said.
What if Ukraine qualifies? “We would welcome any team that qualifies, officials, team and fans. They will be treated like everyone else regardless of their country of origin.”
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