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Without Putin, Russia puts World Cup case to FIFA
Russia called on FIFA to help shape the country’s future by choosing it to host the 2018 World Cup on Thursday.
Though Prime Minister Vladimir Putin declined to deliver the plea in person, bid officials said FIFA could help Russia achieve its modernizing mission more quickly.
‘Bidding for the World Cup will help Russia to overcome its tragic past, all the difficulties of the 20th century,’ Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.
Shuvalov was fielded as a late substitute 24 hours after Putin decided to stay at home, despite long being heralded as ‘team captain’ of the campaign.
After arriving in Zurich strongly favored to win, Russian bid officials spent Wednesday denying suggestions that Putin’s absence revealed fading confidence. Putin reportedly will fly to Switzerland to join celebrations if Russia won.
Russia was the final 2018 candidate — following Belgium-Netherlands, Spain-Portugal and England — to present its case face-to-face with FIFA’s 22 executive committee members, who vote later Thursday.
‘Only one (decision) you can take will make history,’ Shuvalov said, appealing to FIFA’s sense of football’s power to change society.
He praised the ‘very brave and wise decision’ awarding the 2010 World Cup to South Africa — another project that required FIFA to trust that a developing country could deliver billions of dollars worth of investment in new stadiums and infrastructure.
‘We are building a new Russia. We can achieve this better and quicker with your help,’ Putin’s deputy said.
Alongside the politics and history, there was glamor — in promotional videos and on stage at FIFA headquarters.
Yelena Isinbayeva, the pole vault world-record holder, and national team captain Andrei Arshavin stressed that Russia was changing and often misunderstood around the world.
Early in the 30-minute presentation, FIFA voters heard Winston Churchill’s maxim that Russia was ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’
‘That Russia no longer exists,’ bid chief executive Alexey Sorokin said.
The World Cup would show off Russia as a country with ‘as much cultural and geographical diversity as possible.’
Sorokin said Russia’s 145 million people wanted ‘nothing more than to welcome the FIFA World Cup to our home for the first time in our history.’
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