«Playing the game»: for Russia, money and power

Abstract

Developments in post-Soviet football have to be seen against the cataclysmic socio-political changes that have occurred since the demise of communism and the USSR in 1991. Football has acquired a new and unique meaning for ordinary people in terms of both nationhood and even «apolitical» dreams. Russian football today is in the hands of multibillionaire «oligarchs» who use the sport mainly as a gloss over their less sporting activities and to launder their vast wealth. As a result, the Russians are coming in world football, TsSKA's victory in the UEFA Cup being just the first swallow of the Russian summer. Equally, the consequences of oligarch control could well cause huge upheaval throughout world football.