The origin of the history of football in Russia has seen a parallel albeit conflictual development with the political power. This talk starts from some historical notes on the nature of the relationship between football and the Soviet Union, and then moves on to the main stages of the construction of Putin’s new Russia, whose strengths and weaknesses are analyzed.

The rebirth of the Russian empire envisioned by Vladimir Putin after the collapse of the Soviet Union centered on sport, and in particular on football. With the expansion of Gazprom, the huge conglomerate symbol of the new Russia, Putin directed part of the income from the export of hydrocarbons to bring the Zenith to St. Petersburg (his hometown and true capital of Putin’s Russia) back to the top of European football and to be the winner for the assignment of the Winter Olympics in Sochi and the football World Cup. On the other hand, the imperial St. Petersburg was at the center of the Russian football movement from the very beginning, it was the first city and national championships were organized, stopped by the First World War and the Revolution. A talk to find the roots of the Russian World Cup, whose story starts long before 2018 .-

Dario Saltari:
is editor-in-chief of “L’Ultimo Uomo”, where he writes about football and sport, and contributor to the Sky Sport website. Together with the editors of “L’Ultimo Uomo” he wrote the guide to the 2016 European Championships and the guide to the 2016/17 Serie A, both published by Baldini & Castoldi. He has also been focused also about international politics and geopolitics.

Nicolò Porcelluzzi:
was born in Mestre in 1990. Since 2016 he has been editor of “il Tascabile”, he has written for “Prismo”, “L’Ultimo Uomo” and other magazines. Co-author of MEDUSA, Anthropocene newsletter. Between 2010 and 2016 he was editor of “inutile”, a literary magazine.