Football: The Frank Story of What Really Happens

Nikolai Yaremenko is a well-known sports journalist who has devoted more than 20 years to his work. Repeated laureate of the National Award “Radiomania” in the category “Sports Programs,” an academic of the Russian Academy of Radio, a member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Sports Journalists of Russia, and the author of books about sports. The last quarter century brought far more changes to world and Russian football than the entire preceding history of the world’s most popular game. The rules changed; the structure of European cups changed (along with the number and principles of country representation); the financial component grew stronger. At the same time, scandals shook one of the monsters of the global sports movement—FIFA—as well as its Russian mini-analog—RFС. Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini, Nikolai Tolstykh, Vitaly Mutko… Under different sauces and with different nuances, all of them were sent into retirement. And all of this amid smaller scandals—fireworks in Europe, mishaps caused by unjustly strengthening the “limit” on legionnaires, and finally the “icing on the cake”—the notorious “fan card,” fan-ID. After the home World Cup, Russia received a wonderful legacy—modern stadiums. Football infrastructure took many steps forward at once. So why didn’t football in Russia make a sharp leap forward? And why did the world—jump, and how! In this book, the author tries to find honest answers to this and other football questions.