Vladimir Leonov, who is currently in charge of the sports ministry of Russia, is supremely confident that his country will be able to organize the soccer World Cup peacefully.
The supporters of the other countries especially that of England are understood to be feeling very reluctant to travel to Russia because of what the Russian supporters had done during the Euros.
But, Leonov doesn’t think that the reputation of the general Russian fans can be set on the basis of that particular incident. He reckons it was a single incident of its kind and there were only a few people involved in that.
Apart from those people, a lot of other Russian fans were there in France as well for the Euros, but, they didn’t break peace at all and didn’t get involved in any sort of violence. So, one can’t say that every Russian fan is of that nature.
Leonov also emphasizes that the kind of arrangements the World Cup organizing committee has put in place, it will be difficult for anyone to create an unpleasant situation because every fan is going to be given an ID and at the time he is given that ID, he will have to submit full information about himself.
On the basis of the information submitted by the fans, those who have got a negative reputation will be separated and they will then be monitored very closely in and out of the stadium.
As per Leonov, people had similar reservations about Confederations Cup, but, it went along without a single controversy which shows that Russia is a very capable host and has got what it takes to organize a competition like World Cup as well.
The only negative review about Confederations Cup was that the stadiums were not houseful, but, Leonov is sure that it won’t be the same during World Cup and people will definitely turn up for the matches. However, he urges FIFA to consider making tickets a little cheaper.