Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met briefly with FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini before his meeting with football fans.

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Transcript:

Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends. First of all, I’d like to congratulate all Russian sports fans and, and football fans in particular, on the 100^th anniversary of the Russian Football Union. The union was established on January 19, 1912 here in St Petersburg. Please welcome FIFA President Mr Blatter and UEFA President Mr Platini, who also happens to be an outstanding football player beloved by fans across the world. On your behalf and on behalf of all football fans I’d like to thank Mr Blatter and Mr Platini for the honour that FIFA has extended to Russia, of hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

We have just met and had a brief conversation with FIFA and UEFA presidents, Minister of Sport Vitaly Mutko and Sergei Fursenko. We spoke about your involvement in FIFA World Cup preparations. I expect that the heads of football fan clubs, as well as all football fans, will take part in preparations for the world cup, and will help make it a festive event for all lovers of this remarkable sport. I’m confident that we will display the very best of our hospitality when we welcome fans from other countries. I know that football fans are very special people, and your success will carry even more weight if you manage to maintain civility and prove that Russia has the ability to organise events such as this, and very hospitably at that, despite the controversial nature of such competitions. Hospitality is inherent in the nature of all peoples of Russia. I hope that things will turn out exactly like I said.

Let me remind you that we intend to hold the world cup in four geographical zones and 13 cities. I told Mr Blatter and Mr Platini that we will meet with the heads of our football fan clubs, and they were very pleased to hear about it: it came as a surprise to them. They were very glad because they consider it only proper that you should be involved in the preparations for the world championship. I believe that these preparations, and your participation in them, can and must be implemented in several areas, the first of them being the volunteer movement. I believe that volunteers should come from among your ranks – those who will work with arriving tourists, football fans from other countries, journalists.

Next is your participation in the preparation for constructing sports facilities. Your advice and participation in public councils concerning the construction of facilities carries real practical value, and many of these facilities will be built during this period. Just recently, the Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko told me that he established a council of sports fans at the ministry (not just football fans, but sports fans), and he expects football fans to be involved in its  activities as well. Naturally, they will work not on a daily basis, but on a permanent basis – that is, they will have direct contact with the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy and other administrative bodies and their initiatives will be welcome. 

As I understand it, we will meet again tonight and discuss our current issues. There is a lot of time remaining before the championship, and we have a lot of issues to address, which we have the opportunity to do today. I will very gladly meet with you and discuss any and all of these matters, but at the moment I would like to take advantage of our guests’ presence here – I mean our friends Mr Blatter (FIFA President Joseph Blatter) and Mr Platini (UEFA President Michel Platini). I would like to give the floor to them, and invite you to take part in the conversation, to address your questions to our friends here, to ask them about their near-term plans for Russia. Mr Platini has advised me to win the European Football Championship. I said yes, we will try – the question is where our national team will play, in what cities, but he is not ruling out this possibility. I would like to ask Mr Blatter to start off our discussion, followed by Mr Platini. Mr Blatter, please go ahead.   

Joseph S. Blatter (via interpreter): Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr Putin, the patron of the 2018 World Cup! Gentlemen, friends! I would like to say that the FIFA World Cup is the largest sports competition in the world according to statistics, primarily in terms of the TV audiences and the spectators at the stadiums, their number exceeding many times over the number of spectators and the TV audiences of the Olympic Games. Football is only a game, you say, but football is much more than a game! And when FIFA ruled, by a wide majority of votes, that Moscow would host the 2018 World Cup, this represented a recognition of Russia – and not only Russia, but all of Eastern Europe, which had never had an access to such a major event, to such a major competition.

We remember the 1980 Olympic Games held in Moscow, and that is all. But Russia represents an entire continent, it is the largest country in the world, and for us, for the Executive Committee of FIFA, the international football federation, this is evidence of the fact that football must come to the country where it will give a boost to much more than just its own development. I will remind you of the candidates: Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium. All of them are countries with well-established football traditions, football nations. But it is precisely Russia that the Executive Committee members feel greatest sympathy to.

And now a few words about the importance of this game. This goes beyond the organisation of matches at thirteen stadiums, in thirteen cities – it also has to do with roads and hotels. There are 300 million people in the world who love football, boys and girls who play football, people connected with football in one way or another – this is one seventh of the world's population. As I said, football is more than just a game, and when we are talking about the world championship, and you have presented practically all regions in your programme – because in football, social aspects and cultural aspects are important. As I have already said: football is more than just a game. Football is also about the social and cultural aspects of life, and I know that your programme includes almost all regions. Football unites people. It’s not just a sport. Football helped Africa, particularly South Africa, regain its credibility. Football unites people: this is what football is all about. There are many cultures that are represented in your country. This World Cup will certainly unite people, and everyone should participate in it. It isn't only about going to a stadium to watch a game, since no stadium can accommodate everyone who wants to get in. The idea is to participate. This requires the involvement of the entire nation, because football is a game based on discipline and respect. Of course, it’s also based on competition, but this competition should be fair, and this game – which is actually a school of life – should be made available to people through the 2018 World Cup, which you have been chosen to organise. This is not just a way of building up society: you already have a wonderful and healthy society. Above all, this championship is important for young people, and it's important that they are enthusiastic about it. You can build more than stadiums in this country and you can contribute more than the World Cup. You can rally Russia and show the world everything that is possible through football. This is what I have to say at this moment.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Michel, please go ahead.

Michel Platini (via interpreter): Mr Prime Minister, I'm going to speak French. I know that a Frenchman by the name of Duperron (Georgy A. Duperron) was involved in the creation of the Russian Football Union; therefore, I’d like to pay tribute to him by speaking French on this occasion. I’m aware that you are a big football fan. I understand that you are interested in the match and you are hoping for victory. You have an interest in your team and your players. However, I must say that football belongs to the entire world, not just politicians or national football associations, but to all Russians as well. The world will be watching Russia. I’ve seen Russians before, I’ve seen your teams that play in the European League, and I’ve seen your fans in action. You are a very important part of the world of football. The fans will make this World Cup the greatest celebration on earth. I believe that you will attend the European championship and root for your national team in 2012. It is precisely you who builds the image of your national team, and you are the people behind its success. I hope that you will root for your team and that you will create a beautiful image of your country.

Like I said, football belongs to everyone. I myself organised the world championship in France in 1998. The state provides funding, of course, and national associations and FIFA do all the organisational work, but it is you, the fans, who form and showcase the country’s image. This is what I wanted to say to you, Mister Prime Minister.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you, Michel. Please, would anyone else like to ask our guests a question or provide a comment? Yes, go ahead Mr Semyonov. Please introduce yourself. I have told our guests that we have fans from all over Russia here, and, frankly, they were pleased to hear this. Therefore, I’d like to have people from different regions speak. Please go ahead. 

Oleg Semyonov (chairman of the Spartak fan club): My name is Oleg Semyonov, of the Spartak fan club, Moscow. I have a question for Mr Platini regarding the European championship. As we know, the blind draw has Russia playing in Poland. I have two questions concerning this. First, will a ticket to the match be as good as a visa, or will there be a fast-track procedure for obtaining visas at the embassy or at the airport? My second question has to do with security. We don’t want to see a repetition of the unwanted incidents that we saw during the Europa League match between Legia and Spartak in Warsaw a year ago. Thank you.

Michel Platini: Thank you very much for these wonderful questions. As you know, Euro 2012 is held very close to Russia. This was a political decision made by the UEFA Executive Committee to allow Eastern European countries to host the European championship. This is a challenge, especially for Ukraine. It takes a lot of effort to organise Euro 2012, but we are ready and the infrastructure is ready as well. New roads and new airport terminals have been built. I believe that we will be able to finish our work, but certain organisational problems remain. Things are complicated, because neither Poland nor Ukraine has ever organised a European championship. Of course you are interested in tickets, visas, border and security issues, since your team will be playing in Poland as decided by the draw. Since it was a blind draw, as you have aptly pointed out, you play where you play. Entry visas are a political issue. I know that there is a treaty between Poland and Ukraine. You don’t need visas to go to Ukraine, but you do need them if you go to Poland. For us it is the other way round: we don’t need visas to go to Poland, but we need them to go to Ukraine. Therefore, there must be some kind of a treaty between Poland and Ukraine so as to remove these hurdles for the fans.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Putin. Manchester and Chelsea played during the Champions League finals in 2008. As you may recall, fans were able to enter the country for 24 hours on the basis of their tickets, which was wonderful. The ticket functioned as a visa. We are now discussing this issue with the political authorities in Poland and Ukraine. The national association has received the ticket programme. It has a certain number of tickets, which it will distribute.

As for security issues, state security is Poland’s responsibility in Poland and Ukraine’s responsibility in Ukraine. We will abide by their directives. They’ll issue security directives, and we’ll follow them. As you are aware, security depends on the state, not the organisers. Both in 2012 and 2018, the agreement is that the state guarantees security. I believe I have answered your questions. We are now encouraging the Ukrainian and Polish authorities to speed up their legislative initiatives in this area. Of course, we are running into certain difficulties, but I hope that everything will turn out well.

Vladimir Putin: I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that Russia has decided to allow all fans to enter the country on the basis of their tickets in 2018. In addition, we are now looking into the possibility of allowing fans to travel from city to city in Russia free of charge. This would certainly be nice and we would very much appreciate if our Polish friends could do the same for our fans during the European football championship. Please go ahead.

Vitaly Makarov (member of the non-official association of Baltika football club fans in Kaliningrad): Mr Blatter, I have several questions for you. I represent the city of Kaliningrad, which is among those cities that made it onto the application list for hosting the world championship in Russia. Here is my first question. Although there are almost six years to go before the world championship, what do you think about the preparation work being done by Russia, and its organisational committees in particular? My second question is perhaps of greater interest to fans. When will they finally decide on the venues for the world championships, and how will they do it? Who will initiate this: FIFA or the Russian Football Union and the Ministry of Sport? We would like to hear what FIFA has to say about it. Mr Mutko, is that all right with you? I’m talking about Kaliningrad among other cities, because according to the media, FIFA commissions will travel across Russia and decide on site which cities will participate and which will not. We would like to have more clarity about this process.

Vladimir Putin: In other words, Mr Mutko wants to hide behind FIFA for decisions regarding the participating cities and make Mr Blatter responsible for everything.

Vitaly Makarov: And one more personal question. Have there been any changes with regard to your position about reviewing contentious moments in a game? Thank you.

Joseph Blatter: Well, your questions could fill an entire news conference, but I’d like to thank you for them anyway. First of all, I must say that in Russia we have managed to achieve total coordination between political authorities, football authorities, football movements and the minister of sport who is also the head of the organising committee and a member of the FIFA Executive Committee right from the outset. It couldn't be any better than this. The problems that we are still facing in Brazil are non-existent here in Russia. The World Cup will be held in Brazil in two years, and we are still facing problems there. However, there are no such problems in Russia. I’d like to compliment and congratulate you on such coordinated work by politicians, authorities and Russian football. We have government guarantees, which we never asked for, but one of the guarantees says that a ticket to a match will function as an entry visa. This is fabulous! And I’m sure that this is the way it will be. It’s now sort of a procedure or a road map.

As for the final decision regarding the number of host cities, we believe that 12 is an adequate number, but we are not limited to this number. In South Africa, we played in ten stadiums in only nine cities. In Brazil, the initial number was 20, then 17, but we ended up with 12. As a matter of fact, this is all about cooperation, and 80% of the decisions are made by the organising committee, because organisation of the World Cup has been assigned to it. We are not going to impose our preferences. They are taking the risk and they are doing the work. I’m confident that they will do it properly.

Now, with regard to reviewing contentious moments during the World Cup. Since we are at a time when technical devices are used throughout the world, and you have your stadiums equipped with video monitors, which can be used to replay moments that are not in dispute, that’s good. However, in cases of disagreement, video recording is of greater help than a judge, and we will thus create a problem, a precedent.  As for crossing the goal line, I know that I’m fighting Michel here, but we in FIFA cannot afford to repeat the situation that happened in South Africa when the ball went 70 cm inside the goal line, but still wasn’t counted. This is between us. I think that the International Football Association Board (IFAB) will make the right and fair decision. However, the game should maintain its human face and be accessible to everyone. All football lovers are members of different fan clubs and support groups. You are one: players, referees and coaches. You know who should play, how goals should be scored, and what decision should be made by the ref. This is what fans are all about. If you give fans more reasons for discussion, you will just stop the game. If you see that the ball has or hasn’t crossed the scoring area, then what? Where are we heading with this? The most important thing is to score goals. If you can do anything to score a goal, then do it. This is what I think. I’d like to congratulate Mr Mutko, who is my colleague, and Mr Sorokin (Alexei Sorokin), head of the organising committee. They are doing a great job. Thank you very much for your questions as well.

Vladimir Putin: You have mentioned Mr Mutko as your colleague and also as a member of the FIFA Executive Committee. His term there is expiring soon. I hope that you will take note of the opinion of the Russian fans and allow him to stay there for the duration of the World Cup in Russia.

Joseph Blatter: In this case, he will need UEFA’s support, because members of the FIFA Executive Committee from Europe are elected by UEFA Congress. I’m not a prophet, but I’m good at astrology and I can say that the stars are aligning for Mr Mutko.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. Please go ahead.

Vitaly Mutko: Mr Putin, I’d like to add a few words.

Vladimir Putin: Please.

Vitaly Mutko: First of all, we are grateful for this assessment. Since we have fans of all clubs present here, I’d like to say that our work has gained momentum and we have established organising committees in all the regions. We have already developed a draft law that sets forth all the guarantees. We plan to consider it at a government session as soon as February and submit it to the Duma. That way we will put all government commitments into law. Of course, we expect fans to join local organising committees and do their part of work. Our organising committee has signed an agreement, and the Russian Association of Football Fans and we would like to have this work coordinated. We are expecting this work to focus on promoting the image of the World Cup.  

FIFA has approved the new logo and the brand. This is not the way it’s normally done. Usually, it’s done upon completion of the preceding World Cup. However, we have already received a temporary logo and will launch it in the middle of February. We have also been authorised to organise fan zones and stage fan festivals in all the cities during the 2014 championship and create the environment that will be available during the 2018 championship.

I’d like to run a short three-minute video about the stadiums in the cities that are guaranteed to make it onto the list of host cities. We will need 11 cities and 12 stadiums. It’s a short video that shows the work that we have already done. You mentioned four clusters that must be within 2.5 hours of each other by car, so that all events can be easily accessed by ticketholders. We already have a vision of how things will be arranged and are now deciding on the spots to place the teams.

Kaliningrad is our major European city, and we have already chosen a nice place on an island and developed transportation arrangements there.

Vladimir Putin: I saw it.

Vitaly Mutko: You were there this year. You supported the Baltika club. Thank you. This year we will begin to design the stadium. The Kaliningrad Region has allocated funds for the design, and we will come up with co-financing.

In St Petersburg, we are building a stadium for 69,000 spectators on Krestovsky Island. This stadium will be used for a semi-final match and subdivision matches. This is a technically unique stadium with a movable field and a retractable roof. Zenit will play here. The fan festival will be held on Dvortsovaya Square.

In Nizhny Novgorod, we have already agreed on everything with the local authorities. We have chosen a unique spot and settled all transportation and logistical issues. The municipal and regional authorities have allocated funds for designing stadiums. We have 44,000 seats in mind and plan to spend no more than 4,500 euros per seat at most so as to keep prices in check.

In Kazan, the World Student games will be held in 2013. The construction of the stadium is almost complete. The lighting masts are in place. The stadium is beautifully designed in the form of a petal and is located in a nice spot. By the way, the 2015 water sport world championship will also be held here, and a swimming pool will be built there to this end.

Sochi will host the opening ceremony. The stadium meets all the requirements. Subdivision matches will also be held there. We will do our best to revive the Sochi Zhemchuzhina football club and have it play in Premier League. Members of the fan club are counting on it.

In Moscow, we plan to have two stadiums. The fan festival will take place on Red Square, as we have agreed with you. We have held the Champions League here, which was attended by Mr Platini. We believe that the Luzhniki Stadium needs renovations, because it will be used for the opening and final matches. We haven’t decided yet on the second stadium. It’ll be either Dynamo or Spartak. Anyway, we will begin the design and construction as early as this year. Funds have been allocated, and I believe that we have made good progress in our work. We have established good communications with FIFA and will involve fans in this work more actively. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: How much has been budgeted for this and next year?

Vitaly Mutko: We have allocated 1 billion roubles from the budget for 2012 as co-financing.

Vladimir Putin: These funds will be used mostly for the design, correct?

Vitaly Mutko: Yes, stadium design. The subsidies will go to the cities. We expect that the design will cost 700 million roubles or less, which is about 8% of the total cost. Together with Mr Blatter and colleagues from FIFA we have studied the Brazilian experience. We will establish the Arena company, same as in Brazil, which will fully control the technical part of the construction and recommend corresponding designers to make sure we hire experienced companies, which have already designed such stadiums and such stadiums have been actually built. The selection process will be rigorous. As I mentioned earlier, the average cost of each seat should not exceed 5,000 euros. Therefore, we estimate that each stadium will cost about 300-400 million. These will be inexpensive, compact and low-cost stadiums. Michel was in Donetsk and saw the Shakhtyor stadium there. The others will look approximately the same. We are already building these four stadiums.

Vladimir Putin: Good. Sasha (addressing Alexander Alekhanov), please go ahead.

Alexander Alekhanov (president of the regional public organisation Nevsky Front and member of the Zenit football fan club): Good afternoon, colleagues. First of all, I’d like to thank Mr Blatter and Mr Platini for doing us the honour of coming to our city in the run-up to such an important event. Indeed, we have professionals here and representatives of all Russian fan clubs. Our history dates back to 2004 when we actively supported the Russian national team at the European championship in Portugal, then in 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, where we made it to quarter-final. Our current goal is to get ready for 2018.

Thanks to Mr Mutko and Mr Fursenko, who did a lot for the Zenit football club, our public organisation managed to establish its own football school in St Petersburg. We have over 500 children at our club, of which 70% are being coached by fans. I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that work is underway, and fans are gaining experience that they’d like to share. I’d like to let Mr Platini know that last year a group of 100 fans were supposed to go the Champions League to root for Shakhtyor, but they couldn’t make it, because two days before the departure their visas were cancelled because of some lists suddenly produced by Interpol. Perhaps, there were overly strict decisions regarding the use of fireworks or something else. There’s nothing else wrong with our fans or fan associations. In 2012, when fans go abroad to attend the European championship and then the world championship, they should be given the unfettered opportunity to do so, because they will then hand down their first-hand experience to the next generation of fans who will root for our national team in 2018. We need to explain rules of behaviour to them. Thank you very much for your time.

Mr Putin, I believe that everything that’s being done to promote football… Additional security and steward programmes will be developed. We are doing our best to perfect this work exactly on domestic championships of our city, so that our children get used to order. Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

Joseph Blatter: I would like to say a few words on fans and new FIFA stadiums. They are standard stadiums. This also concerns UEFA and world matches: there are no fences, only seats… In such country as Switzerland, which is dubbed a paradise, there are old stadiums. We must serve the fans. We must create comfortable conditions for fans. Great Britain, England showed to the world how to organise matches with steward control, with TV support, closed circuit TV system in stadiums, in particular. And all this is for the benefit of new stadiums to be used, say, in 2018. Old stadiums should be improved for the fans’ comfort and to ensure calm. For example, there is the issue of people bringing fireworks, foreign objects. They need monitoring. Naturally, the proper fan clubs should demonstrate, even show respect for fair play, for the benefit of football, and they ought to do it. And we offer these stadiums for football, and there is probably a good option for our interaction. 

I also want to say what happened, what changed in the preparations for the World Cup, in particular. For me this is the eleventh World Cup that I have helped prepare for. I began in 1978, in Argentina. Many things have changed over the years, but now we offer good, comfortable and safe stadiums that promote safety. Now the fans will be glad because they get this comfort, and this will make it possible for the people themselves to behave properly. And both sides have this option for work, your organisations preparing the competitions, with the participation of fan clubs, and it is easy to do that, it is very easy to do that.   

Vladimir Putin: Mr Alekhanov mentioned stewards here. We have a nice practice forming now. So-called officers that represent fan clubs, who meet before matches, including with law enforcement agencies, develop joint actions. This practice is gradually taking root and it is positive in general. And naturally I hope that in the future, especially by the World Cup, we will amass all of this positive experience and use it afterwards. Please, go ahead, Mr Nosyrin.

Yuri Nosyrin (representative of Yaroslavl fan club): Yuri Nosyrin, Shinnik Football Club in Yaroslavl. Last September, a terrible tragedy took place in my town: the Lokomotiv hockey team crashed at Tunoshna airport. When various commissions came, the federal officials said it was necessary to modernise the Tunoshna airport, or even build a new airport, taking into account the fact that Yaroslavl might host World Cup matches. Now they voice somewhat different opinions, they say it is senseless to upgrade the Yaroslavl airport, to build a new airport, because Moscow is close, so Yaroslavl has less of a chance than other cities. I would like to ask at the level of the government: is that true or not? Will the promise be fulfilled or not?

Vladimir Putin: I have heard nothing on the need to upgrade the airport following this well-known tragedy. It has been established that the quality of the runway and the airport itself were not the causes of that terrible tragedy; neither the runway nor the airport caused the tragedy in any way. We have a programme to develop airports across Russia, we have allocated tens of billions of roubles for it. To be honest, I do not remember whether it includes a Yaroslavl runway, but if it needs upgrades, if experts say it needs upgrades, they will naturally be done, without question. There are no limitations. I repeat, the budgets contain all the necessary resources, nothing was dropped from this programme, and if something should be done, if the experts say yes, the runway must be upgraded, it will be done immediately. Well, not immediately, this is long-term work, but it shall be done.

As for hosting the championships, neither the lack of the airport or its condition are limitations for us. If necessary, we will upgrade any airport to a duly condition for that world championship within a set period. There is absolutely no question about that, there is a question on the overall concept of the competition. Perhaps, Mr Mutko will tell us something.

Vitaly Mutko: Mr Putin, as for Yaroslavl, they have a plan for hosting matches. And we… It concerns all cities, we jointly with FIFA (the FIFA general secretary visited) held a special seminar for all cities. We listed the requirements for each city regarding infrastructure and plans, which every city should… After all, a city is a host. And we agreed that this year, before September, every city should work on this and in September we will send delegations to all cities. To date, thirteen cities have filed their applications, and if each city is conceptually better, closer, after all a city must take up more responsibility, then we, naturally, will take a decision based on this. We will take a decision after considering which city makes better progress, which city complies better. Perhaps we will propose to drop some cities from continuing in the competition, to prevent superfluous investment. But as far as Yaroslavl is concerned, we halted the upgrade of the stadium. You remember that we allocated funds for the stadium upgrade, and rebuilt one tribune, by the 1000^th anniversary of Yaroslavl. Then new FIFA requirements on stadiums were issued, so we stopped, and now we are investing in the project so that it complies fully, because Yaroslavl made various demands: to erect a stadium on the Volga bank followed by a new bridge… Now we grounded them, proposed that they develop a more down-to-earth concept. As for the airport upgrade, they have a small terminal… Many cities do not need capital construction, we have a technique used by UEFA, when they make a temporary terminal for the period of increased tourism. Afterwards the city has to determine whether it is a good thing to have.  

Vladimir Putin: A terminal does not require a lot of funds. The most expensive part is the runway. And if it is in normal condition, everything will be all right; if not, we will repair it. I want you to understand that this is not a factor for the final decision on hosting World Cup matches. If the organising committee decides that Yaroslavl is the place to host, we will do it quickly, this is no problem. It is important to decide which places will host. This is not a critical issue.

Go ahead, Sasha (addressing Alexander Shprygin).

Alexander Shprygin (president of the Russian Supporters’ Association): My name is Alexander Shprygin. I’m from the Russian Supporters’ Association (VOB). Good afternoon, everybody. I would like to thank high-ranking football officials, heads of FIFA and UEFA for attending this meeting. I believe it’s important for all of Russia’s community of supporters. I’d also like to thank you, Mr Putin, because, as a matter of fact, it’s not in every country that fans have the opportunity to meet such high-ranking officials, and this is our second meeting already. It’s been a year since we last met after the tragic events associated with the Spartak fan. So, I have several short questions that have come up since then.

We have 23 official supporters clubs represented here. In fact, there are over 120 organised and properly registered supporters clubs. Football is developing in Russia. The highest indicator of the state of football in Russia is our national team, but it’s clubs that prepare players and supply them to the national team. There is a vast number of clubs in Russia, and their geographic locations are wide. Unfortunately, not all clubs can afford to keep playing in the league. So, occasionally, fans have to take to the streets like they did in Tomsk – I’m referring to the Tom club, or in Samara – Krylya Sovetov club. This is their only way to blow off steam, because it’s part of their soul. Currently, clubs are being financed from regional budgets. I have a question for you about this. Given that football clubs from lower divisions and even some from the Premier League are eking out a miserable existence, what do you think about our oligarchs buying up leading foreign clubs in bulk? I have another question along these lines: one of the previous Dumas drafted a law to ban beer sales and ads at stadiums. However, this is a major source of revenue for clubs in the rest of the world. Anyway, we will have to change this during the World Cup in 2018, because breweries are major sponsors of FIFA and UEFA. We held a large convention with the participation of heads of fan clubs from 60 cities in December. We will appeal to the new government, which will be formed in May and to the current State Duma, and you as future president (there’s no doubt that you will be the next one) with this request. What do you think about bringing beer back to stadiums? This will not necessarily result in mass alcoholism or public disorder. They sell beer at stadiums everywhere in the world, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We would like you to help us sort out this issue.

There’s one other issue: last summer, the media extensively covered the so-called law on fans. You said earlier today that fans are unlike other people and there have to be special regulations covering their activities, as is done in England. They talked a lot about this law and the Duma allegedly working on it in summer. Sooner or later, we’ll have to… What we have now are the rules adopted by the Russian Football Union, but there are no federal regulations on football fans. The Duma will inevitably have to consider this law in the run-up to the 2018 cup. On behalf of the entire Russian fan community I would like to ask you to conduct these discussions openly. We would like fans to be invited to the relevant Duma committees. We don’t want this law to be based exclusively on the opinion of the police and other security forces or liberals, who blindly copy English legislation and see the most severe possible punishment as the only way to go. We believe that such an approach will adversely affect both fans and players.

My last question is about the upcoming major events. One indisputable achievement is that Russia will host the 2018 World Cup. However, some people start to forget that, before that, the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi – which are now just two years away – were viewed as a similarly outstanding event for fans. We have very good contacts with the Ministry of Sport, and we regularly get together with Mr Mutko as part of the meeting organised by the Union of Sports Fans and the Russian Football Union. However, we have no contacts whatsoever with regard to the Olympic Games in Sochi. It’s an off limits area for sports fans. Please help us get involved in preparations for the Olympic Games in Sochi, because the interest is really great. In general, I’d like to ask you to use fans more extensively during the implementation of various initiatives. Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you. As for whether we should do as they do in England, we should ask our guest from France Mr Platini. Do we need to do everything the way they do in England?

(Michel Platini shakes his head.)

This answers one of your questions. Now, let’s ask Mr Blatter about selling beer at stadiums. How is beer advertising regulated by FIFA?

Joseph Blatter: This was on the list of FIFA requirements. I’m not sure about 2018, we discussed it at some point at FIFA… I told you that when I started organising championships back in 1978, they used to sell hard liquor and cigarettes, an American brand. No more cigarettes now. This goes against health requirements and so on. We believe that СО₂ may be even more hazardous to human health, but we can discuss this. Indeed, there are breweries that have been working with us for over 20 years now. In all the countries where we’ve been so far, beer was allowed. This is immensely popular among fans. Beer started out in Europe and went to Asia: Japan and Korea. Beer is part of life, and there’s no way around it. How can you hold a championship in Germany without beer? Or in South Africa? That’d be terrible, because fans want beer. No problem. There may be minor problems with beer in Brazil, because beer may raise some eyebrows there. However, fans are asking for beer. The issue is not about selling or not selling beer, but rather about protecting sponsors, because we cannot prohibit drinking beer made by other brewers outside of the stadium. Personally, I believe that beer is not bad in moderation, just like everything else. People use all kinds of stuff. Things should be done at the appropriate times and in appropriate quantities. I’m sure that this issue will be brought up many times: should we drink beer or soft drinks, or maybe just water? Because anything can be harmful to human health. Let’s enjoy life and the game and drink beer.

Vladimir Putin: You just need to know what’s good for you. Have your regular three litres and be done with it.

Certainly, we will follow the rules approved by FIFA, and we are assuming certain responsibilities. Our decision about not selling beer at stadiums was based on best intentions. Let’s get back to this issue and give it more thought. I understand everything: Joseph’s reasoning is based on the reality, it’s clear. So, we’ll return to this and see what we can do. Agreed?

As for the laws, you are right, Sasha, that we should follow this logic during the championship in accordance with our commitments. There are sponsors who support football just like FIFA and UEFA. I don’t think that our clubs will be able to quickly find major sponsors among brewers and become financially independent overnight. We will return to this subject tonight. There must be order and financial discipline. The financial success of the clubs depends on many things. This has to become a business venture in all senses of the word. Certainly, the state has a role to play in setting the rules of the game. However, much depends on the clubs themselves. You have mentioned the Tom club – we will get back to it later today. Back in 2009, they asked me for help. I got a pool of sponsors together. Mission accomplished. Next year they asked me for more. We did it again in 2010. Come 2011, they are asking for more. There must be a time when they can stand on their own two feet. We can help again, but they must have their own sources of financing. People should work on this and create their own sources of financing.

As for the participation of fans in preparations for the Olympic games, I have been under the impression that we use them rather extensively. If you think that this is not enough, I will certainly let the organisers know about it. Mr Mutko can hear it now, but we will let everyone who’s involved know, including Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and the organising committee. Absolutely we will. I believe that we should turn to fans for help and support first.

Certainly, all regulations concerning football and sport in general should be governed by public opinion with the participation of sport enthusiasts and fans. I have no clue about whether this is a separate legal act or part of the law on sports. Is it a separate regulation?

Vitaly Mutko: A separate legal act is being prepared by the Interior Ministry. It’s almost ready, but we put it off as part of the effort to reform the Interior Ministry, because the law On Police...

Vladimir Putin: In that case I fully agree with Sasha. Fans should get involved, absolutely. You have established this board at the ministry. Perhaps it can be used to involve fans in this work. Just make sure it represents broad public opinion. They should participate by all means. I will talk with Mr Naryshkin so that they use your services and knowledge during hearings at the corresponding committees. The opinion and wishes of the fans absolutely should be taken into account during the preparation of these regulatory acts. We will do this.

Mr Fursenko, yes, please go ahead.

Sergei Fursenko (president of the Russian Football Union): I’d like to comment on the questions asked by Mr Shprygin. First of all, we should help clubs make money, and the state can do a lot in this regard, including allowing the sale of beer. Clubs will see an instant increase in revenue. This is being used across the world as a major source of financing, and the Russian Football Club supports this.

As for oligarchs, clubs and senior officials, we know from our experience that if a governor is interested in football or any other sport, everything is fine with football in that region, because he makes oligarchs participate, and they help without any involvement of the federal authorities. If a governor is not interested in football, then football is neglected. This is just an observation.

Vladimir Putin: You know what this means is that we aren’t doing enough on the federal level. We need to create an environment where the promotion of football doesn’t depend on personal preference of a particular executive. We need to think about how this can be done. You need beer? All right, let’s give it some thought, discuss this again and see what the deputies have to say. However, I believe this won’t be enough, either. As for my thoughts about our businessmen buying football and other teams abroad… They buy them with legal money, and they are entitled to invest their money as they see fit. Certainly, it’d be much better if they invested in Russian sports. I’m absolutely convinced of this. This would be much more patriotic and would bring good results. They make their money in Russia, so they should invest it here as well. Please go ahead, Sasha (addressing Alexander Nikulin).

Alexander Nikulin (manager for relations with Tom football club fans): Good afternoon, Mr Putin and guests. I didn’t have to wait long for the conversation to turn to Tom. I am from Tomsk. I have some questions for you. The first one, naturally, is why such an affluent region as the Tomsk Region with about 100 mineral developers working on its territory can’t afford to support a single professional sport? In 2009, you intervened (thank you very much for this), and the football team seemingly got a boost. We are in 2011 now; the team is in the training camp; half of the team is gone, because they haven’t been paid salaries in five months. Team members went to the training camp using the money collected by fans. Will the initiative you started in 2009 be seen to completion? All of the fans are hoping so.

Second question: two major sports events are coming soon. I’m referring to the Olympic games and World Cup. Infrastructure, including stadiums, will be built. However, all of that will happen in European Russia. In Tomsk, the local authorities are doing their best to hold sports back. We have a disco instead of an Olympic pool; a flea market in the Sports Arena. Ski trampolines have been raided and ransacked. I could go on. We have had two fatal incidents at football stadiums this year alone. Won’t this cause a huge gap between the level of development of European Russia and the rest of the country? Will we get any attention in this area?

Vladimir Putin: I’m not in a position to comment on all that you’ve just said. You are aware that we have been investing quite heavily at the federal level in sports and physical fitness lately. Regional spending is also on the rise. Unfortunately, the number of people engaged in athletic activities is not as large as, say, in Finland, but it’s steadily growing. We are getting close to international standards. As a matter of fact, such events as the World Cup and the Olympics promote sports in the country. When Mr Blatter and I discussed the possibility of holding the World Cup in Russia, I pointed out to him that this was extremely important for Russia in order to promote sports, physical fitness, and a healthy lifestyle among youth. I’d like to thank FIFA again for hearing this and allowing us to host the World Cup. As for Tomsk, I can’t say how much they invest in Tomsk and the Tomsk Region to promote sport and physical fitness, but I will look into it. I promise that I will instruct the Ministry of Finance to check the numbers and compare them to neighbouring regions. Let’s put it this way: I will go there and see how things are on site.

Alexander Nikulin: Yes, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: We will drive around together and see how things are.

Alexander Nikulin: Good, Mr Putin. There’s another question: where does all the money go?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, this question is still waiting for a diligent researcher from law enforcement. We talked about the Tom football club, and I knew nothing about what’s going on there. Back in 2009, I was told that there was a problem associated with the global financial crisis, which affected the club. I talked with the companies that operate in the region, and they allocated a certain amount of money. Again, it’s been a year since then, and we are beginning to recover from the crisis. But in 2010 they asked for help again. And again in 2011. You put it quite right, Sasha. Tomsk is a wealthy region. It’s Siberia, and many Russian companies operate there, including ones that extract raw materials. We are talking about major transnational companies with huge turnover. However, the point is that they don’t let them run things. They are needed exclusively as sponsors. They give money and leave. They cannot even control how their money is spent.

Alexander Nikulin: Pardon me, Mr Putin, but the position of president has remained vacant for five years now. This is how long it’s been in existence...

Vladimir Putin: The point is not about the position, but about the club’s shareholders.

Alexander Nikulin: We are incorporated as a non-profit partnership.

Vladimir Putin: Good. When are they supposed to come aboard this non-profit partnership?

Alexander Nikulin: We keep our doors open.

Vladimir Putin: Then you need to do it. I knew that we would have such a discussion. I’ll make no secret about it: I called them from the plane on my way here. They updated me on the situation – I just didn’t know much about it. I was told that the money was released, but then there were questions about how the money had been used. They have even opened a criminal investigation into it.

Now I don't want to blame anyone, nor do I want to make any judgement: it is none of my business, let the investigation sort things out, and if it winds up in court it is up to the court to make a decision. It is necessary to figure out where the money is transferred. Is Pavlyuchenko leaving his team for Zenit?  

Intervention: Pogrebnyak.

Vladimir Putin: Pogrebnyak. They bought over Pogrebnyak, did they? Did Zenit buy him? How much did they pay? How much did Tom pay for him, do you know?

Intervention: Tom bought him from Spartak, and then…

Vladimir Putin: How much did the Tom Football Club pay Spartak for him?

Alexander Nikulin: Mr Putin, I don't know that information.

Vladimir Putin: You don't know, Mr Nikulin, but I can tell you. They bought him up at one price and sold him for five times more. Not just for some percentage profit, but five times the price! "Where is the money, Zina?" (A quotation from a popular song by Vladimir Vysotsky). All this deserves close examination. I want this very much, believe me. If I didn't, I would not have been occupied with this issue for three years, even though I have plenty of other things to keep me busy. This is, so to say, none of my business at all. Mr Mutko and Mr Fursenko will attend to it, but they cannot influence the companies that work there. I simply told them, "guys, you have to help." And they helped out once, twice, three times. I called upon them for the fourth time: “Give us some more.” They said: “Look, at some point you need to stop.” I said to them: “Join this non-commercial partnership, or whatever legal form of their organisation.” They said they were ready to join it. Let's not ramble on in front of our guests, let's talk… If the club is ready to open its doors to wealthy companies that could permanently support and develop it, create its own material and financial base, let's do it that way. I am ready to tell them about it directly, and they will not refuse, they will support us. 

Alexander Nikulin: Mr Putin, we did not sell Pogrebnyak. Let the people who sold him...

Vladimir Putin: I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the club. The club bought him at one price and sold him for at least five times more. Five times! And this is only one player. But I don't want to blame anybody. I was told that they have debts of 400 million. Do you see what's going on? I repeat: I am prepared to give direct instructions, a request (I can't make them do something, this is a joint stock company, I can ask companies operating in the region) to join the club. But in this case they should join the club and take control over financial issues and other financial and material functions that are not directly related to sports activity. Let us discuss this point in the evening in order not to tire out Mr Blatter and Mr Platini. 

Alexander Nikulin: Good.

Vitaly Mutko: I would simply like to add that there are concerns that we are concentrating on these twelve cities and will not develop other towns beyond the Urals. We have a programme of national football development which has been operating for two years. We build 50-60 football fields every year under this programme. We have built 500 fields, across all cities in the country. And we have built eleven football stadiums: In Novosibirsk (which was not chosen to host the world championship), we opened a stadium for 5,000 seats in December, and now Chita will have a stadium and we offered one to Tomsk as well. By the way, a children’s school in Tomsk… You know where the field came from in Tomsk… And in Tomsk, we are also building a 50-metre swimming pool with Russian budgetary funds, to make things clear. 

Vladimir Putin: Mr Nikulin is focusing on a different issue. He says that in general, sports is developing badly over there, you see? There are not enough swimming pools, he says, and other sports facilities are in a deplorable state. It is necessary to look into all of this. I will go there myself and have a look. Aside from addressing these issues, I will have a look at this as well, I promise. Recently we have… In 2006 or 2005, we had eighty football fields…

Vitaly Mutko: Eighty football fields with artificial turf.

Vladimir Putin: … of artificial grass, and now we have five hundred [fields], and in the short-term, within the next five years, we will have to build 300 more fields.

Vitaly Mutko: And eleven purely football stadiums.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, go ahead, Mr Khrisanov.

Dmitry Khrisanov (representative of the movement of sports fans of the Republic of Tatarstan): Good evening, everyone. I have a few questions I would like to ask. I would like to address one question to Sergei Fursenko. We are going to host a world championship, and the programme of stewards at stadiums and match delegates has been developed for a long time (by Vitaly Mutko), but it was suspended for unknown reasons. And another question: when will the police be removed from stadiums at last? This is a very sensitive issue for fans of the whole country, I think.

And a question for Mr Putin. Do you approve of this transition to summer time? For me it is very complicated: when a football match (say, the UEFA Europa League is being held, and Rubin FC plays there) starts at 9 p.m. and finishes at 11 p.m., people have to get up in the morning, and somebody steals one hour of their life.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Khrisanov, I have not authored this decree.

Dmitry Khrisanov: I understand. I just want to know your opinion. Is it easy for you to start your day one hour earlier?

Vladimir Putin: It is always difficult for me to get up in the morning.

Dmitry Khrisanov: And one more wish which has to do with my personal opinion on our education, which is a very sensitive issue for me. Why are we adopting the US education system despite the fact that in 2010 they had an IQ test in the US to see whether the US population had become smarter or stupider, and their IQ turned out to be below 90%. Ninety percent is considered to be a normal IQ, and they failed to reach it. And this Uniform State Examination introduced in Russia was invented by a US psychologist, a scientist. I daresay he conducted his tests on rats, and then this came along, what they have done… No, I am serious, I'm speaking seriously.

Vladimir Putin: Did his rats pass the Uniform State Examination?

Dmitry Khrisanov: No, his system became a foundation for testing education. Even the US President admitted that since 1976 (I do not remember the exact figures) the US population has been suffering from debility. Why would we want to follow in their footsteps? We had a very good education in Soviet times. I was born at that time, I received that education. I just think it's a shame – why are we following that path?

Vladimir Putin: We do not want to tire our guests out: Mr Platini and Mr Blatter have no connection to our education system. But what can be done? Since our Minister of Education and Science is the brother of Mr Fursenko (to Sergei Fursenko), it's possible to give him a good kicking round the corner so that he can give our greetings to his brother. But seriously, there are pluses and minuses [as regards this Uniform State Examination]. There are some minuses, surely. What region do you come from?

Dmitry Khrisanov: I come from Kazan.

Vladimir Putin: Kazan is a major university centre, and Russian leading higher education institutions have never seen such a stream of applicants to universities in St Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan. After the introduction of the Uniform State Examination, the number of applicants enrolled in large universities grew, although there are some minuses, there are possibilities for misuse – we know about this now. I am not inclined to engage in such a discussion right now. I agree that the Soviet system of education had many benefits, it had a fundamental character, but everything in the world is developing and our Soviet system, which was good for its period, began to fail a little, began to fail in trying to respond to modern challenges. Perhaps we should have taken the path of modernising our old model. It is possible, but this is not the place to discuss this issue. We can meet in the evening and talk. And another part of your question was…

Dmitry Khrisanov: Concerning stewards.

Vladimir Putin: This is a serious matter, it is necessary to develop it, I completely agree with Mr Khrisanov. It is necessary to develop it, it is necessary to work it out with the Interior Ministry. Is it good or bad for them? I believe it is good. What is wrong with it? I see nothing wrong. On the contrary, this is a plus. Mr Fursenko (to Sergei Fursenko)?

Sergei Fursenko: First of all, we are developing this system. In some clubs it already exists, in Zenit, in particular, stewards work without the police. Of course, our main idea is to remove the police from stadiums. Merely the presence of the police creates a provocation. We have tried to formulate rules of behaviour on the stadium. It concerns not so much fans at the stadium, but order, for everybody somehow to understand their role. Because when our national team plays abroad, the riot police remain in offices under the tribunes and leave these rooms only in extreme cases, they do not provoke anybody. We want to create a similar design here. We are working intensively with law enforcement agencies in this area. The fact is that police, to be honest, are reluctant to be present there. Do you see? They clash with fans not on their own will, so to say, therefore I think in the short-term at least…

Vladimir Putin: Nobody wants to work, they’d rather lie around at home.

Sergei Fursenko: But their children are at the stadium! Therefore we are working on that, and I do not see any problems here.

Vladimir Putin: Do you think it is possible?

Sergei Fursenko: I think it ought to be done.

Vladimir Putin: Good. We will think about it and move forward in this direction. Please go ahead, Mr Mironov (to Ivan Mironov). Guys, we should wrap up soon, because there is going to be a ceremony soon.

Ivan Mironov (Chairman of Great Perm association of sport fans): I have a question that I believe is of concern to the majority of those present. The question is for Mr Blatter: you said that in preparing the world championships you took into consideration ethnic characteristics of the host country. The use of pyrotechnics is traditional for fans of Eastern Europe (Serbia, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine). Unfortunately, this country forbids the use of pyrotechnics at stadiums: it is an Administrative Code offence and is punishable with a fine. So the question is: would you consider the option of changing the FIFA regulation by 2018 in order to allow for the use of pyrotechnics at the world championship in Russia?

Vladimir Putin: That is, it's more or less the same as the beer question.

Ivan Mironov: Because Russian law refers to the FIFA and UEFA regulations, and so the question is to you. Thank you very much.

Vladimir Putin: The people here like shooting.

Joseph Blatter: I don’t know if this question is serious or not, because I might have been misunderstood. We are categorically against the use of pyrotechnics at stadiums. That would require not only the police and stewards but also the fire brigade. Please don’t use pyrotechnics at the stadiums. If you have a fireworks display at the end – that’s good. But if fireworks are set off near the stands, it can be very dangerous. There have been many accidents in this respect. In Bradford, UK, for example, a disaster occurred because the grandstands were made of wood. I think you remember what happened there. A pyrotechnics display within the stadium is out of the question. No! No fires, no shooting, no fireworks! Do you know what happened in Zurich when one group of fans set another group on fire with pyrotechnics? It’s not football, and they aren’t fans. They come to a stadium to start a brawl, not to enjoy the game. You should support your team. If your team is losing, there are other emotions. If you are losing, there is always a hope for tomorrow. Football in general is linked with hope: things will be better tomorrow than they are today. But please, don’t use pyrotechnics!

Vladimir Putin: Mr Mironov (addressing Igor Mironov), please.

Igor Mironov (head of the Volga Football fan club; representative of the fan society of the Torpedo Ice-Hockey Club, Nizhny Novgorod; representative of the fan society of the Nizhny Novgorod Basketball Club): I am Igor Mironov, Volga Football Club, Nizhny Novgorod. I have a short question for our possibly bored guests – Mr Blatter and Mr Platini. You said at the beginning that we have a very big country, a very big population, a large number of fans, numerous football clubs, and so on. My question is this: Why so few tickets for the European Championship? The ticket programme is very small: 6,000 tickets for this huge country.

Michel Platini: I think the numbers are equal for all national associations. We can’t really let the Russian Football Union have the entire stadium. The Poles also want to see the games as do the local fans. If, for example, the UK and Spain played in this country in 2018 (I don’t know where they would play – let’s say in St Petersburg), and the entire allotment of tickets is reserved for the Spanish and the British and none are left for the St Petersburg fans, then why organise a world or European championship in Russia at all? I mean there is a quota, and if there are some tickets left that were not sold to non-playing federations, then, of course, there is a chance that we would offer some surplus tickets to Russians. In this case the Russian Football Union could revise the quotas with the UEFA.

Joseph Blatter: You asked a very clever question because it has a bearing on the world championship as well. We had the same problem with Brazil. Should we give more tickets to a country that has a larger population than some other country? Of course, there are some smaller countries that made it to the latest World Cup. But one of those countries, Slovenia, was unhappy because it has a population of 3.5 million. But Germany qualified for the World Cup, too, as did Brazil who has a larger population. Ticket quotas are not related to population, and this includes both the World Cup and the European championship. We are all equal in this respect.

Vladimir Putin: So far the Chinese are not very keen on football, so we like ticket distribution pegged to population. There is something to think about here. Please, Mr Drozdov (addressing Sergei Drozdov).

Sergei Drozdov (representative of the Dynamo Football Club fan society in Moscow, and the fan society of the Dynamo Ice-Hocjkey Club, Moscow): Good afternoon! I am Sergei Drozdov. I have a question for Mr Blatter and Mr Platini. Is it possible to consider holding regular seminars for fans before major international tournaments, like the World Cup or a European championship? Along with fans, the seminars might be attended by representatives of teams that have qualified for the tournaments, FIFA and UEFA representatives, and representatives of the host countries. They would discuss some general matters, ask questions, and lay out support criteria. This might make it possible to avoid many problems that crop up during football games; fans from different countries as well as football officials will be in contact. This is my first question. My second question is this: in addition to these seminars, would it be possible to consider holding a tournament, where fans from participating countries can play football and thus establish a friendly atmosphere?

Vladimir Putin: While Messrs Blatter and Platini are thinking about it, let me tell you that this is a very good idea. But everything depends on the organisers. Wait till we are preparing for the world championship in 2018… Where are you from, Mr Drozdov?

Sergei Drozdov: Dynamo, Moscow.

Vladimir Putin: Dynamo, Moscow. Listen, this is a good idea. I am very glad that you came up with this proposal. Let’s do that! While we are preparing for the World Cup, we certainly should hold these seminars with colleagues and fans and others.

Sergei Drozdov: We should invite them in advance.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, and we should organise the competitions. A wonderful idea!

Sergei Drozdov: At the moment when everyone comes…

Vladimir Putin: We certainly can do it and we will. Messrs Blatter and Platini can also tell us what they think about this idea.

Michel Platini: Mr Prime Minister, I agree with you: the idea is just fine! We have begun doing that with fan associations in Europe, because Poland and Ukraine have fan associations that can receive other associations at home and organise competitions. It is a wonderful idea and I think this is a matter for Organising Committee-2018. They should come up with this proposal and unite fans from other countries. Fans from all countries will be happy because football is their holiday. This should be done. There are ideas – let’s follow through on this because it promotes the image of football. It won’t always be easy, of course, particularly if they had a beer or two before a game. But, of course, it’s a great idea, and, Mr Mutko, I am calling on you to do that at the Organising Committee. We have begun doing that in Europe, you know.

Joseph Blatter: I would like to add something. I also think it’s good for fan associations to play some games. It’s a good idea. We at FIFA have been doing that with 32 finals-winning teams. We even have an organisation called Street Football: 32 countries meet and play football. Playing football is good, but there need to be referees there as well.

Vitaly Mutko: Thank you for the good ideas.

Vladimir Putin: Dear friends and colleagues, we must be going. My guests and I are scheduled to attend a function devoted to the 100^th anniversary of the Russian Football Union. On your behalf and on behalf of all Russian fans, I would like to thank Mr Blatter and Mr Platini for coming to this meeting and for their presentation. Football was just one of the subjects; we also discussed Russian education issues. I am not, incidentally, an absolute fan of the USE, but we will talk about this later in the evening. We also discussed problems in developing Russian sports in general. Thank you for your patience and for your attention to the issues we have formulated. I have no doubt that Russia will be prepared to hold the World Football Championship in 2018, but our task for now is, of course, to support our team at the European Championship. I would like once again to thank you from the bottom of my heart and wish you all the best. Thanks to all participants!