With eight games to play, CSKA Moscow’s 4-0 drubbing of Alania in Vladikavkaz pulled the Army Men eight points clear of the pack in the race for the 2012/2013 Russian Premier League title. It’s been six and a half years since the club won its last domestic title and just as long of a championship drought for the Russian capital.

On Monday night in North Ossetia, the visitors made short work of Valery Gazzaev’s revamped roster. Alan Dzagoev, who originally hails from the North Caucasus republic, knocked in Vagner Love’s rebound in the 25^th minute to cool off an energetic home side. In the second half, Love, who played for CSKA from 2004-2011, collected a brace in his third match back from Brazilian club Flamengo, while Doumbia rounded out the scoring in extra time after comical defending by Bosnian defender Ogjnen Vranjes.

Alania, though promising at times up front, fully deserved its 4-0 defeat. Two successive four-goal defeats (5-1 to Amkar on March 16^th) leave the team bottom of the league, five points back of the relegation playoffs and 14^th-placed Krylia Sovetov.

Alania’s task to remain in the Premier League next season could have been much more daunting, if not for Mordovia’s 2-0 win in Samara. Of the six clubs battling to avoid relegation at the foot of the Premier League table, Mordovia have been most effective this spring. The Saransk club fired Fedor Shcherbachenko in December and brought in Daniel Munteanu to turn things around. The former Romanian national team midfielder has done his part thus far, debuting with a shocking 2-0 win over Anzhi at home, before taking three vital points on Saturday.

Mordovia was simply much better than Krylia Sovetov this weekend. Apart from Shamil Lakhiyalov’s egregious miss in the 6^th minute, the home team hardly threatened. Mordovia went ahead on an Anton Bober corner in the 28^th, headed in coolly by Daniel Opritsa. Captain Ruslan Mukhametshin doubled the advantage just before halftime.

Back at the top of the table, the momentum in the race for Russia’s second Champions League spot has shifted to Zenit. In its most impressive performance yet in 2013, Zenit drilled Terek 3-0 before a nearly sold-out Anzhi Arena.

The game was played in Makhachkala, about 170 km from Grozny, after Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov earned his stadium a one-match ban for entering the referees’ room in Akhmat Arena on March 17th to complain about the officiating during a scoreless draw with Rubin.

Approximately 20,000 fans made the three-hour drive east to cheer on Terek, but Axel Witsel quieted the crowd already in the 8^th minute. Left all alone in the box on a Hulk corner, the Belgian international headed home for his third Premier League goal in 12 appearances. Though Kerzhakov was denied at the spot a few minutes later by Yaroslav Godzyur, second-half goals from Brunu Alves and Konstantin Zyryanov, along with Terek defender Fedor Kudryashov’s ejection just before the break, made it a trouble-free three points in Dagestan for Luciano Spalletti’s men.

The win pulled Zenit two points clear of Anzhi into 2^nd place as Guus Hiddink’s club slumped to a 4-0 defeat hours earlier in Krasnodar. Winless now in six straight matches, dating back to a 1-1 draw in Hannover in the Europa League round of 32, Anzhi have collected only one point from nine in the Premier League this spring.

Continue reading at The False Nine. 

When the Russian Premier League resumed play on March 8, following the winter break, the table was split into three distinct groups. Three clubs had risen above the pack, CSKA, Anzhi and Zenit, separated by five points in the chase for the title and one of two Champions League spots. Beginning with Kuban, Terek and Spartak, all clumped six points beneath 3^rd-place Zenit, another seven teams enjoyed an excellent chance at snagging one of Russia’s four Europa League places, awarded to clubs 3^rd-5^th in the league as well as the winner of the Russian Cup.

Five of the eight teams remaining in the Cup are located in the table’s top six (only Spartak failed to advance to the quarterfinals), meaning the odds are high that a top-five team will win the tournament and gift the country’s final Europa League bid to the 6^th-place team in the league.

Kuban, Terek, and Spartak, though, faced a battle to secure European competition next season. Rubin and Lokomotiv lurked just one point back of the trio, while Krasnodar and hard-charging Dinamo trailed 4^th place by just four and two points, respectively.

Bringing up the rear, six clubs, Rostov, Amkar, Volga, Krylia Sovetov, Alania and Mordovia, had virtually no hope of catching even 10^th-place Krasnodar and needed to focus their attention on avoiding relegation.

15^th and 16^th-place in the Premier League guarantees an exit, while the two teams in 13^th and 14^th must play the 3^rd and 4^th-place teams in Russia’s second division, the Football National League, at the end of the season to determine who takes the final two spots in the Premier League.

Mordovia and Alania faced the biggest climb, seven and five points, respectively, behind 14^th-place Krylia Sovetov. Only three points, however, separated 11^th-placed Rostov and 13^th-placed Volga, with Amkar sandwiched between the two.

Every team had work to do this spring, kicking off last weekend in fairly miserable conditions across most of the country. Rubin’s pitch in Kazan, in fact, proved so poor that the club hosted Zenit 1,800 kilometers from home, in Grozny’s Akhmat Arena. Teams playing in Saransk, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Samara weren’t as lucky, battling below-freezing temperatures and stiff fields.

From a competitive standpoint, the biggest moves came at the top and the bottom. CSKA rolled past Krylia Sovetov, 2-0 in front of 22,000 in Samara, to climb five points clear of Anzhi (downed 2-0 in Saransk) and seven clear of two-time reigning champions, Zenit, who dropped three points to Rubin in their temporary Chechen home.

Mordovia handed Anzhi their worst domestic defeat this season and caught Alania in 15^th place, four points back of Krylia Sovetov, a fantastic result to begin their spring survival campaign. Rostov and Alania were the only other clubs to pick up a point in the bottom six.

The hunt for the Europa League, likewise, tightened even further. Thanks to wins by Krasnodar and Dinamo, only four points separated 4^th-10^th.

Each team faced 10 more matches. Would the Premier League bring the excitement club owners, television executives and die-hard fans so desperately wish for? Only a few more frigid March matchdays remained on the calendar. Spring does come to Russia, albeit reluctantly, and the potential for gripping football throughout the 16-team league down the stretch was high.

Week 1 in the season’s final third did not disappoint, though some of the biggest headlines, admittedly, came from beyond the pitch.

Continue reading at The False Nine.

Russia is on the cusp of a football stadium boom. The new venues are sorely needed: 12 of the country’s 16 Premier League teams play in Soviet-era arenas with minimal comfort, poor lighting, and inadequate drainage on the pitch.

Several of the stadium projects have been in the works for years: Spartak, CSKA, Dynamo, Rubin, Zenit and Sochi (the 2014 Olympic Stadium will be transformed into a football arena after the competition ends) announced construction plans years ago. A second wave came with private investment in several provincial clubs, Anzhi and Krasnodar foremost, although Alania have also announced recently announced plans for a new stadium. The 2018 World Cup is responsible for the biggest group of planned stadiums, eight in total, which will join the Rubin, Spartak, Zenit and Sochi arenas on the world’s largest stage.

Stadium construction signals an aggressive effort to increase the popularity of Russian football among the public. With a season that now stretches from early March to December, casual fans have been hesitant to come out much of the year. On top of the frigid temperatures, poorly maintained fields turn soupy each spring and fall, significantly affecting the quality of play.

The third inhibitor for many are Russia’s notorious fan clubs and the violence (or threat of violence) that can attend matches. Sergey Ivanov, head of President Vladimir Putin’s administration, recently disparaged the stadium atmosphere, “Swearing, charges, smoke in the air…A normal person in Russia should be revulsed at the idea of going to a football match.” Sitting in the VIP section, he likely avoids the multiple body frisks regular fans endure simply to enter many stadiums.

Landscrona, Fratria, UnitedSouth, CSKA Ultras and other fan groupings are furious, but legislation slowly working its way through the Russian Duma and Russian Football Union proposes increased fines for misbehavior, more efficient security and IDs when purchasing tickets. Proponents of the changes hope to make matches safer and more appealing to the general public, even if they must alienate many of Russia’s fan clubs. Modern stadiums equipped with the latest technology and security features will play perfectly into the hands of officials who need to raise Russia’s image in advance of the World Cup.

Beyond appearances, Russian football must attract more fans if clubs ever hope to become profitable. Through the first 19 weeks of the 2012-13 Russian Premier League season, attendance averaged 11,197 with stadiums filled to 43% capacity, comparable to attendance in the top Belgian and Portuguese leagues. Russia, of course, has the world’s ninth largest population, while Belgium and Portugal are 75th and 79th, respectively.

Continue reading at The False Nine.

Still, what would even that lofty accomplishment do for the provincial club? The financial gulf between the average Russian side and a team able to compete for Russia’s medals and advance in European competition is vast. Anzhi’s best-case scenario for the future appeared to be promotion, then survival for as long as possible under the bright lights of the RPL. Oh, they might make a run at the Russian Cup or threaten occasionally for Europa League qualification, but surely nothing more was expected of the team.

At the same time, however, in the late 2000′s, rumors started to proliferate that a wealthy businessman from southern Dagestan, Suleiman Kerimov, might one day purchase the club. And he was wealthy, yes, wealthy beyond any Dagestani’s dreams.

Born in the ancient Dagestani city of Derbent, Kerimov’s family originally came from the mountains southwest of Derbent. Their native village, Karakyure, lies a stone’s throw from the Russia-Azerbaijan border. Kerimov secured his wealth in Russia’s tumultuous 1990′s, investing in all the right companies and natural resources, following their privatization, so successfully, in fact, that by the middle of the 2000′s, his net worth came to $7-8 billion. As is often the case for Russian oligarchs, Kerimov entered politics. He currently represents Dagestan in the Russian Senate, Russia’s richest politician at the time of his appointment.

Known for his passion for wrestling – Kerimov underwrites the Russian National Wrestling Federation – the hope that he might turn his eye to football and rescue Anzhi from obscurity lay in the back of many Anzhi fans’ minds.

So when the news came in January 2011, one year after Anzhi had regained a place in the RPL (they finished 11th in 2010), that Kerimov had indeed assumed ownership of Anzhi Makhachkala, the long-dreamed of rags-to-riches story proved even more dramatic than anyone could have imagined. Kerimov wasted no time unveiling plans for new stadiums, training academies, elite foreign players, and an assault on the highest peaks of European football.

The first new fruits were an influx of famous and semi-famous footballers prior to Anzhi’s 2011/2012 RPL campaign…Roberto Carlos, Mbarak Boussoufa, Odil Akhmedov, Jucilei. Soon after, Anzhi began renovating Khazar Stadium, located a few miles south of Makhachkala along the Caspian Sea. Built in 2002, Anzhi abandoned the drafty, hard-to-reach arena within a few years, returning to ninety-year-old Dinamo Stadium in Makhachkala. Now, however, the club planned to completely enclose the previously exposed field, preventing the gusts of wind that disrupted play in the past, as well as solve the transportations problems.

Still, after the initial storm of media publicity in the winter and early spring, Anzhi drifted off the radar. The team played well in Russia, maintaining a spot in the top half, but without European competition and little access to Russian football outside of the country, there wasn’t much to see. The summer transfer season, however, brought the team back into the public eye. With almost every big name in football linked to a move to Dagestan, the club’s reputation as reckless and fiscally irresponsible grew. A few of the big names signed, too, Yuri Zhirkov from Chelsea and most famously, Samuel Eto’o from Inter.

Following Eto’o's arrival last August, big player transfers noticeably slowed and in their absence, the attention paid to Anzhi Makhachkala subsided once again for many months. The team ensured a spot in Russia’s quirky top-8 spring season in 2012 – the league transitioning over 18 months from a spring-fall to the standard fall-spring cycle. They chose to conclude their 2011/2012 marathon season by separating the top 8 and bottom 8 clubs at the end of 2011, and schedule fourteen weeks of play the following spring, contested exclusively within the two divisions.

The biggest news of the winter, however, concerned Anzhi’s search for a new coach. Gadzhi Gadzhiev was shown the door in October 2011, and Anzhi held off until December to appoint their new manager, when they surprisingly on outsider Yuri Krasnozhan, former Russia youth coach. Reports that Guus Hiddink had turned down the job swirled and the pressure on Krasnozhan to properly manage Anzhi’s famous and wealthy roster multiplied.

Krasnozhan didn’t last long. Less than two months after his appointment, still a month until the season would resume in March, Anzhi released him and brought Guus Hiddink on board. The club’s disgraceful treatment of Krasnozhan made waves internationally and the team’s general buzz outside of Dagestan after one year under Kerimov suffered even more.

Beginning with their splashy signing of over-the-hill Roberto Carlos and the Bugatti Veyron he received for his birthday two months later, to the suspicious relocation of the team’s practice facilities to FC Saturn Moscow’s former camp outside of Moscow, to Eto’o's enormous contract with the club, and, finally, the Krasnozhan sacking, in spring 2012 Anzhi looked every bit a Russian oligarch’s plaything and nothing more.

For the next few months, during the quiet conclusion to their 2012 season, which saw them take 5th in Russian and barely qualify for the Europa League, little news came out of Dagestan, apart from their signing of former Blackburn defender Christopher Samba and the return of keeper Vladimir Gabulov from CSKA. Guus Hiddink gained familiarity with the team and the club prepared for a more intense schedule in the fall, in addition to the always captivating summer transfer season.

The Europa League bid, if scarcely noticed outside of Russia, created immense interest within Dagestan. Eleven years prior, Anzhi played Glasgow Rangers in a one-game tie in Poland in the now-defunct UEFA Cup. At that time, the home-and-away series had been moved to a neutral location due to security concerns in restive Chechnya, which borders Dagestan. Now, many years later, the club had a second chance to host European competition and present a more positive side to the often negative international portrayal of Russia’s North Caucasus.

When UEFA, in early July, once again banned European teams from traveling to Dagestan because of security concerns,  disappointment and outrage spread throughout the fan base and the area. Many directed their anger at UEFA president Michel Platini, but frustration also began to bubble over among the Anzhi faithful at the club’s inability to overturn the ban. Fans suspected the club’s decision to train outside of Dagestan and only fly to Makhachkala the day before games had influenced UEFA’s decision. Though the official reason given for Anzhi’s relocation to Moscow is a lack of proper training facilities in Makhachkala, the common assumption is that the club would struggle to sign top-flight players, if they had to live in Dagestan’s capital. UEFA, reading the news reports from Dagestan of ant-terrorist operations and frequent bombings, wouldn’t be that stretched to believe that Anzhi players were not just uncomfortable, but also afraid to live in Makhachkala, given they visit their home city for only 24 hours every two weeks during the season. Why, then, should European clubs have to visit at all?

The loss of Europa League home games, plus a lack of visible progress in developing the club’s infrastructure, understandably caused no little concern in Makhachkala for Anzhi’s future.

Some questioned whether the team ever intended to return to Makhachkala after a year and a half away in Russia’s capital. Others wanted to know when Anzhi’s youth academy in Makhachkala would open, and if renovations at Khazar Stadium, to be renamed Anzhi Arena, would ever be completed after the club initially announced the stadium would be ready in fall 2011. Not as pressing, but still upsetting, was the club’s complete silence regarding its plans to establish football schools and athletic pitches in most of Dagestan’s major towns. Dagestanis were desperate for the club to prove its detractors wrong, to reverse the generally held opinion outside of the republic that Kerimov was only involved for selfish reasons  and cared not for Dagestan’s athletic and economic development.

Well, if the club’s image both locally and internationally reached rock bottom in early July, the tide slowly began to turn back in Anzhi’s favor. The team romped through their three rounds of Europa League qualification, hosting Honved, Vitesse, and AZ Alkmaar in Moscow. Each round brought favorable press, as their opponents offered support for Anzhi’s right to play Europa League matches in Dagestan. And the winning, albeit far from home, helped soothe the bitterness of many Anzhi fans. The club was progressing before their eyes and hope remained that this year would be the last UEFA dared to refuse Dagestan its place in Europe.

As for infrastructure, the club finally delivered on several promises – the Anzhi youth academy opened in early October, while 31,000-seat Anzhi Arena reaches the final stages of reconstruction. If not this fall, then next March the stadium will surely be ready for play. Other dreams, that of gleaming football fields and academies stretching across Dagestan’s Caucasus mountains and Caspian shoreline, the team’s permanent return to Makhachkala, and an ultramodern 45,000-seater in the Makhachkala suburbs, remain, but they don’t seem as urgent.

And, on the pitch, Anzhi’s nearly perfect season continues to pick up steam. They’ve lost only once, in Moscow 1-0 to CSKA, and they can claim an away draw with Udinese, a home draw with Zenit, and home wins over Young Boys and Spartak as their major accomplishments thus far. They’ve still a tricky schedule to navigate this fall, with visits to Lokomotiv, Rubin, and Zenit, not to mention their remaining Europea League fixtures, but the club’s perch on top of RPL and four points from two matches in the Group A of the Europe League look quite nice.

More importantly, the club’s outside image has risen dramatically in just a few months. Smart personnel moves, such as their acquisition and use of many of Russia’s rising young footballers – Oleg Shatov, Georgy Gabulov, Fyodor Smolov, Serder Serderov, Nikita Burmistrov – have built up a measure of goodwill for the Dagestani side from skeptical Russian football observers who sharply critiqued their big money moves last season.

Roberto Carlos’ popular football classes with youth in provincial Russian cities where Anzhi plays, most recently, Yekaterinburg and Vladikavkaz, look good on TV and in the newspaper. The club’s sensitivity, too, has touched many hearts. While in Vladikavkaz, the team paid their respects to victims of the Beslan hostage crisis. Prior to last weekend’s match with Spartak, Anzhi honored the memory of the Spartak fans who died at Luzhniki thirty years ago. And, just yesterday, immediately following their practice at Anfield Road, Anzhi laid a wreath at the Hillsborough memorial.

The club’s fame, most clearly evidenced by the upcoming Europa League match with Liverpool, is rising. Though, for now, most outside of Russia only associate Eto’o, Hiddink, Carlos, extremist violence, and the bizarre tongue-twister name of Makhachkala with the club, their acceptance into Europe’s footballing elite isn’t far off, if Suleiman Kerimov is to be believed. Perhaps then some will see a bit beyond the sensationalist headlines and learn something of Dagestan’s beautiful mountains, famous hospitality, thousands and thousands of years of rich history and deep pride as a united, though diverse, republic of 35 distinct people groups, each with their own language.

Anzhi and its fans hope they can open the world’s eyes to Dagestan. The first step is for the club to gain respect for their play on the field, and not just the juicy gossip off it. When, and if, that is achieved, then Anzhi’s fame may play an even greater role in revitalizing the fascinating republic it represents.

In the two months leading up to Anzhi’s initial Europa League tie, scheduled for July 19 and July 26 against the winner of the 1^st qualifying round tie between Albanian club Flamurtari and Hungarian side Honved Budapest, Anzhi fans had focused on whether the team would have a suitable stadium in which to host UEFA-sponsored competition. The team’s current stadium, Dinamo, located in downtown Makhachkala, was built in the early 1900s. Despite recent renovations, both club officials and fans feared that it would not pass UEFA inspections. With Anzhi’s new stadium, Anzhi Arena, still under construction, the team would be forced to host Europa League opponents in Vladikavkaz, Krasnodar, or Moscow.

Thus, UEFA’s decision to ban Europa League matches because of the perceived security threat shocked FC Anzhi management and its passionate fanbase. For Anzhi supporters, memories of the club’s first and only appearance in the Europa League in 2001, then known as the UEFA Cup, until qualification this spring, sprang to mind. At that time, UEFA, under pressure from Anzhi’s opponent, Scottish side Glasgow Rangers, had forced the Dagestani club to forgo its right to host a European team in its home city, and play a one-leg tie with Rangers at a neutral site, Warsaw. Anzhi lost the match, 1-0, and for eleven years awaited another opportunity to finally bring European competition to Dagestan.

If in 2001 the Scots may have been justified in requesting a neutral site, given the on-going conflict at that time between rebels and the Russian military in the neighboring republic of Chechnya, then this year’s decision by UEFA to again deprive Anzhi of Europa League matches in Makhachkala came three years after the official end of the Russian-Chechen conflict.

Violence between Russian armed forces and Dagestani criminals has continued up to the present day. Frequent shootings in Makhachkala and outlying towns are reported frequently by the Russian media, and, to some extent, the characterization of Dagestan as a violent land is not misplaced. In the first half of 2012, Dagestani law-enforcement reports that 116 terrorist crimes were committed in which 67 people died, including 60 armed personnel and seven civilians. In addition, the Center for Economic Research reported that in the first half of 2011 Dagestan led Russia with the most gun-related incidents – 336.

However, when comparing overall crime rates in the Russian Federation, Dagestan ranks near the very bottom. In 2010, only Chechnya, Dagestan’s neighbor to the west, reported fewer crimes (1.9 and 2.3 per 1000 citizens, respectively), and Dagestan’s incidence of murder ranks favorably with other Russian provinces. Forty-four of eighty-three Russian provinces have worse murder rates than Anzhi’s native land.

Furthermore, in Anzhi’s defense, in more than twenty years of hosting Russian league and cup matches in Makhachkala, not one serious incidence of violence has been reported connected to football.

Makhachkala, in recent years, has also played host to a number of international competitions. International wrestling competitions, in particular, are held annually in Makhachkala and Khasavyurt. The most prestigious of these competitions, the World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling, took place in Makhachkala on March 19-20. Wrestlers from ten nations, including Cuba, Hungary, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, competed in the Dagestani capital. Prior to the event, International Federation of Associated Wrestling (FILA) President Rafael Martinetti, praised Dagestan’s preparation for the event, in addition to emphasizing the positive role wrestling played in the republic: “All of this [Dagestan’s preparation] speaks of the positive changes in the socio-economic development of the republic. It’s wonderful that free-style wrestling can serve as one of the catalysts of this process.”

Following the tournament, Martinetti and Dagestani President, Magomedsalam Magomedov, discussed Dagestani’s chances of hosting either the European or World Wrestling Championships in 2015. According to FILA vice-president Georgii Bryusov, Martinetti affirmed Dagestan’s candidacy, provided the republic could develop the needed infrastructure – modern hotels, airport renovations, and improved roads. Despite the current lack of infrastructure, according to Bryusov, “We are convinced that the Republic of Dagestan, in partnership with the Russian Federation of Wrestling (FSBR) and FSBR Guardian Council, is entirely capable of overcoming these concerns.”

 Not surprisingly, FC Anzhi quickly and publicly protested the UEFA Executive Committee’s decision to deprive Dagestan of 2012/2013 Europa League matches. The most vociferous opposition, understandably, came from Anzhi’s fanbase. Anzhi’s largest fan club, the “Wild Division,” posted an official letter of protest on its website twenty-four hours after learning of UEFA’s decision. Soon after, fans announced a public protest, to be held on Saturday, July 7 in Anzhi’s home arena, Dinamo Stadium.

About the same time, FC Anzhi General Director Aivaz Kaziakhmedov sent UEFA President Michel Platini the club’s own letter, detailing their disagreement with UEFA’s evaluation of the security situation in Dagestan, as well as their concern that UEFA’s actions would irreparably set back Anzhi’s efforts to develop football, and society as a whole, in Dagestan. Kaziakhmedov emphasized Anzhi’s frustration that UEFA had not sent a special commission to Makhachkala to study the question in person, relying rather on what UEFA would later refer to as a “trustworthy dossier” on Dagestan’s security situation.

On July 4, one day after receiving Kaziakhmedov’s letter, and two days after the initial announcement was made, UEFA Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti responded to Anzhi’s request to reconsider with a polite, but firm refusal.

Anzhi, however, did not give up the struggle. “Wild Division” members continued to advertise the planned July 7 meeting on their website, dd05.ru, while club officials managed to secure the support of Dagestani President Magomedsalam Magomedov and the Executive Committee of the Russian Football Union (RFS). Both Magomedov and the RFS Executive Committee subsequently submitted their own letters of support to UEFA for Anzhi’s right to host Europa League matches in Dagestan.

On the morning of July 5, Kaziakhmedov commented on the developing situation to “R-Sport,” “The club has already taken action and sent an official request to UEFA to reconsider their decision. That request received an unfavorable response; however, today the Executive Committee of the RFS officially asked UEFA to reconsider, and the President of the Republic of Dagestan did so as well, in addition to submitting all necessary security guarantees [from the Dagestani government].”

FC Anzhi and its fans will now await UEFA’s latest response to their attempts to restore Dagestan’s right to host Europa League competition. Though their efforts may ultimately be in vain, Anzhi fans have gained invaluable experience in organizing themselves to work together for a common goal. Indeed, mass protests in Dagestan do not have a long history and recent Dagestani demonstrations against corruption, both political and economic, have often met with swift consequences from the government.

Anzhi’s public protest against UEFA has been officially approved by the Dagestani government, which fact the “Wild Division” prominently advertised in its official appeal to Dagestanis to gather at Dinamo Stadium on July 7. The opportunity, however, to organize peacefully and without fear of reprisal, in pursuit of the greater Dagestani good may prove invigorating to local citizens who wish to positively impact their society. The Anzhi protests, particularly at the ground level, are a promising sign for Dagestan’s future, both in football and beyond.

I have translated below eight pertinent documents, beginning with the UEFA Executive Committee decision to ban Europa League matches in Dagestan. Here are the translations, in the chronological order that each document was released on the internet:

1. UEFA Executive Committee decision to ban Europa League matches in Dagestan.  

2. FC Anzhi’s initial response to the UEFA decision.

3. The “Wild Division’s” official letter of protest.

4. FC Anzhi’s official letter of protest.

5. The “Wild Division’s” public appeal to Dagestanis to protest the UEFA decision on July 7 in Dinamo Stadium.

6. President of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov’s letter of protest on behalf of all Dagestanis.

7. UEFA’s official response to FC Anzhi’s letter.

8. The RFS Executive Committee’s letter of protest.

 UEFA Executive Committee Decision – July 2, 2012 (6:00 AM EST)

On June 30 in Kiev, UEFA’s Executive Committee studied the security situation in Dagestan, and, in particular, in Makhachkala. Following deliberations, the committee reached the decision that FC Anzhi will not be allowed to host Europa League matches in Dagestan during the 2012/2013 season.

Both the Russian Football Association and FC Anzhi have been informed of this decision.

FC Anzhi is now preparing a proposal for the reserve stadium, located within the territory of the Russian Federation, in which to host 2012/2013 Europa League matches. The reserve stadium must meet all UEFA requirements.

The Executive Committee’s decision will immediately be sent to UEFA headquarters for approval.

http://fc-anji.ru/news/ru/club_news/reshenie_ispolkoma_uefa/

Official Announcement from FC Anzhi Administration – July 2 (1:00 PM EST)

FC Anzhi’s official response to the recent UEFA Executive Committee decision.

FC Anzhi General Director, Aivaz Kaziakhmedov, prepared the following response to the recent UEFA Executive Committee decision to forbid FC Anzhi from hosting 2012/2013 Europa League matches in Makhachkala: “In the name of FC Anzhi, I would like to express that our club is greatly saddened by the UEFA Executive Committee’s decision to forbid our team from participating in Europa League matches in our home city of Makhachkala. The decision was not made due to a lack of athletic infrastructure in Makhachkala. Rather, the decision was handed down for completely different reasons, not related in any way to the existing football accommodations in Dagestan. Nonetheless, FC Anzhi administration will do everything within its strength to ensure that, even in this difficult situation, the interests of its fans would be served above all. We have no right to take away their right to watch their favorite team play its home matches. Indeed, we are already working on how to resolve this question.”

http://fc-anji.ru/news/ru/club_news/oficial_noe_zajavlenie_rukovodstva_fc_anji/

Public Appeal from FC Anzhi Fan Club “Wild Division” – July 3 (6:50 AM EST)

A public appeal from FC Anzhi fan club “Wild Divison”, concerning UEFA’s decision to prohibit FC Anzhi from hosting 2012/2013 Europa League matches in the Republic of Dagestan.

 Dagestanis met with great dismay the news that UEFA had prohibited FC Anzhi from hosting 2012/2013 Europa League matches in the Republic of Dagestan.

The “Wild Division,” representing the interests of FC Anzhi fans, announces its opposition to this decision, believing it to be both unfounded and unjust.

The UEFA ban contradicts foundational principles of athletics and Olympic ideals concerning the equal right of all peoples to enjoy sports and its social impact. Indeed, this decision weakens UEFA’s geographic sphere of influence in the European region, as it instantaneously excludes a territory with a population of three million people.

UEFA’s decision at the international level calls into question the authority of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Dagestan, particularly their ability to guarantee public safety at athletic competitions. Such a decision cannot conceivably promote societal stability within our country or republic. Quite the opposite, it leads to increased instability. The level of societal tension in Dagestan noticeably rose after this unjust decision was made public.

UEFA’s assessment of the level of safety in Dagestan, on the basis of which this disputed decision was made, appears to have been subjective and not based on accurate information. In evaluating the situation in Dagestan, the hosts’ (FC Anzhi’s) opinion was not taken into consideration. Neither, in fact, were local experts consulted or a professional investigation conducted on the ground.

This decision contradicts Russian Football Union regulations, particularly its standards for security and safety during competitions. We find ourselves, however, in a situation now where a football club participates in competitions sanctioned by a national association, abiding by said association’s rules and regulations, yet when it wishes to participate in competitions held by a separate association, of which its own national association is a member, it must observe a different set of standards. Such a conflict of jurisdiction does not promote the integration of Russian football clubs into the European football family.

With this in mind, FC Anzhi’s fan club, the “Wild Division,” guided by Russian and Dagestani national interests and with firm belief in the ideals of fair play, requests the following:

1. That the Russian Federation, under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, and the Republic of Dagestan, under the leadership of Magomedsalam Magomedov, present UEFA with all required guarantees of safety during 2012/2013 Europa League matches held in Dagestan.

2. That FC Anzhi, in the name of its General Director, Aivaz Kaziakhmedov, and the Russian Football Union, in the of Acting President, Nikita Simonyan, begin efforts to defend the legal rights and interests of FC Anzhi and its fans by contesting, via the proper avenues, UEFA’s decision to forbid FC Anzhi from hosting 2012/2013 Europa League matches in Dagestan.

3. That UEFA form and send a special commission to Dagestan, comprised of UEFA employees and independent security experts, in order to conduct an objective evaluation of the potential for holding 2012/2013 Europa League matches in Dagestan. We further ask that the positive experience FILA, and other international athletics organizations, have enjoyed when hosting major competitions in Dagestan, be considered.

4. That regional and federal media outlets offer their support in broadcasting the public protest against UEFA’s decision to ban 2012/2013 Europa League matches in Dagestan.

Sincerely,

Ramazan Gaziev
Director, “Wild Divison”

http://www.dd05.ru/news/show/otkryitoe_obraschenie_bolelschikov_fk_anji

 Open Letter from FC Anzhi to UEFA – July 3 (7:20 AM EST)

To UEFA President, Mr. Michel Platini

Dear President Platini,

With great sorrow, and, to be honest, amazement we learned of UEFA’s decision to not allow Anzhi to host its Europa League matches in Makhachkala.

We are troubled not only by the decision made, but also by the manner in which it was made. Typically, in such situations UEFA representatives consult with the management of both the national football association and football club in question, in addition to authorizing a commission to personally investigate whether matches may be held in this or that city. Unfortunately, in this case, nothing along these lines was done.

For more than twenty years FC Anzhi has hosted matches in Makhachkala, both in Russian league and cup competitions. During that time, not a single serious incident has taken place within our stadium.

European and world football stars – Roberto Carlos, Samuel Eto’o, Yuri Zhirkov, and others – happily play in Makhachkala for FC Anzhi under the direction of their head coach – Guus Hiddink.

Millions of our fans awaited the Europa League matches in Makhachkala, looking forward to what promised to be a wonderful party. FC Anzhi’s owner has invested millions into renovating our stadium, as well as constructing a new ultramodern football arena, youth football academy, and seven football centers throughout the republic of Dagestan. Moreover, FC Anzhi has been declared a “territory of peace,” and we believe that holding Europa League matches in Dagestan will witness further proof of our commitment to preserve peace and observe all possible security measures.

What, then, are we to do with these projects following such a decision from UEFA? Should we stop that which we have begun? Perhaps such efforts are not needed to develop football, encourage healthy living and find solutions to pressing social problems? Does not UEFA just as actively promote the improvement of social concerns via the development of football? With this in mind, we’re forced to assume that the recent decision handed down by UEFA’s Executive Committee concerning FC Anzhi contradicts UEFA’s formally expressed values.

We’ve long known that UEFA, and you, personally, Mr. President, actively promote the principles of humanism, kindness, and respect for all humanity. In considering our situation, please respect these principles, as well as the primary UEFA injunction – Fair Play.

Football fans across Europe, Russia, and our native Dagestan are the intended beneficiaries of our efforts. Given that the Executive Committee’s ruling “On the Banning of 2012/2013 Europa League Matches in Dagestan,” was reached due to safety concerns for both the visiting team and its fans, FC Anzhi is prepared to present any and all necessary, documented guarantees of safety from the proper government agencies.

We’ve heard our fans’ impassioned outcry. We know that they believe deeply that justice will be done in this matter. Thus, in our view, there is still time for a wise and balanced decision to be made.

We trust in your wisdom, Mr. President.

With our best wishes,

Aivaz Kaziakhmedov
General Director, FC Anzhi

http://fc-anji.ru/news/ru/club_news/oficial_noe_pis_mo_fc_anji_v_uefa/

An Appeal to Dagestanis – July 4 (8:05 AM EST)

A public meeting will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 7 in Dinamo Stadium to protest the recent UEFA decision to forbid football in Dagestan. The “Wild Division” appeals to all Dagestanis, who value the fate of their native land, to come to the meeting and support our initiative.

Dear Dagestani brothers and sisters!

You all know that our beloved FC Anzhi, which proudly represents our republic on the football pitch, was stripped of its right to compete in the 2012/2013 Europa League season.

For eleven years, ever since the draw brought Anzhi and Scottish club, Glasgow Rangers, together, we have awaited a return to the European football family. We hoped to open our doors in hospitality to Europe’s leading clubs.

Sadly, we are once being deprived of this opportunity!

UEFA, Europa League organizer, captive to media exaggerations and stereotypes, refused Anzhi the right to host opponents in its native land of Dagestan.

European bureaucrats themselves believe and are attempting to convince others that we are not masters of our own land, that crooks govern here and that a peaceful life is not possible. The UEFA decision is an insult to us, Dagestanis, because it casts doubt on the unwavering Caucasus traditions of hospitality and our ability to protect our guests.

This is an unjust decision – a blow not only to FC Anzhi and its fans, but also to all of Dagestan, the Caucasus region, and Russia. This is an insult, and we must defend our honor and our interests by doing all that we can in order to reverse this shameful ban.

Russian and Dagestani authorities, FC Anzhi, and “Wild Divison” fans are already doing all they can to ensure that this football holiday can be celebrated on our land.

The time has come for regular Dagestanis, too, to support this all-encompassing protest.

In Makhachkala’s Dinamo Stadium (Dakhadaev Street), on Saturday, July 7, at 11:00 AM, a government-authorized protest against the injustice of European football officials will take place.

 We will change this situation only if we can unite around a common goal and work in unison. Only our united fist will be capable of breaking down the wall of injustice, with which they wish to separate us from the rest of Russia and the world.  

 Everything depends on you!

 Watch below the video created by the “Wild Division” to encourage attendance at the July 7 protest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8k5vCAwl7E&feature=player_embedded

This links to one of the posters, advertising the July 7 protest:

http://f2.s.qip.ru/Ha2NTHaO.jpg

 http://www.dd05.ru/news/show/miting_v_podderjku_anji

Magomedsalam Magomedov’s Appeal to Michel Platini on Behalf of All Dagestanis – July 4 (11:30 AM EST)

 The President of the Republic of Dagestan, Magomedsalam Magomedov addressed UEFA President Michel Platini concerning the recent decision by UEFA’s Executive Committee to forbid FC Anzhi to host 2012/2013 Europa League matches in Dagestan.

 The Dagestani president’s press service informed RIA (Russian Information Agency) “Dagestan,” that the president had notified UEFA leadership that their decision was received with great surprise and dismay by hundreds of thousands of fans and millions of Dagestanis, who had looked forward to celebrating Europa League matches in Makhachkala, as well as the beautiful style of European football that the competition offers.

Magomedsalam Magomedov emphasized that athletics have been and will always remain an important part of strengthening goodwill between peoples and unifying society. For the people of Dagestan FC Anzhi represents an important socio-cultural project and  promotes the values of patriotism, citizenship, tolerance, and healthy living.

The president brought attention to the fact that for the past twenty years Dagestan has surely and steadily developed football in the republic. Committed planning, serious finances, and investment have brought about the on-going development of a world-class football infrastructure.

From Magomedsalam Magomedov: “The decision by UEFA’s Executive Committee is even more bewildering, given that Dagestan annually hosts dozens of international athletic events. In the past year alone athletes from more than forty nations have taken part in these competitions. Moreover, all of these competitions have received high praise for their level of organization, for running smoothly and for the absence of any serious problems related to safety.”

Following discussions between President Magomedov and Russian Federation law-enforcement officials, Dagestan is prepared to offer any necessary guarantees of safety during Europa League matches hosted in the republic.

The President appealed to Mr. Platini and his background as an elite footballer, and idol to millions of fans, with this request: “Please take our fans’ passion into account and consider the possibility of reversing this unjust decision by sending a UEFA commission to Makhachkala to study the situation on the ground.”

http://www.riadagestan.ru/news/2012/7/4/138857/

UEFA Response to FC Anzhi Letter – July 4 (12:20 PM EST)

Mr. Kaziakhmedov!

Thank you for your letter addressed to UEFA President Michel Platini.

We understand your club’s disappointment over the ban on matches in your home stadium. However, such is UEFA’s responsibility – to ensure standard security conditions for all participants in our competitions.

The Executive Committee of UEFA made this decision based on a trustworthy dossier. This dossier confirms that the security threat in Dagestan because of terrorism remains quite high. This security threat has led many governments to officially warn their citizens to abstain from traveling to Dagestan and neighboring regions.

In such a situation we believe that it would be irresponsible of UEFA to allow matches to be held in Makhachkala. If it was allowed, then it would expose the visiting team, officials, media representatives, and fans to a level of risk not acceptable to most government agencies.

We highly value the projects your club has undertaken for the good of Makhachkala and commend you to continue work in that direction. Nonetheless, the first and primary condition of international competition in your republic consists of guaranteeing security standards, which would allow foreign visitors to come to Dagestan.

Please know that any decision, which separates a club from its local fanbase, is not made lightly by UEFA, and we are deeply sorry when such a decision must be made, as in this instance.

We hope for your understanding and cooperation in finding a suitable location for FC Anzhi to host 2012/2013 Europa League matches.

With best wishes,

Giorgio Marchetti,
Competitions Director, UEFA

http://fc-anji.ru/news/ru/club_news/otvet_uefa_na_zapros_anji/

Russian Football Union Executive Committee’s Address to Michel Platini – July 5 (12:20 PM EST)

Mr. Michel Platini, UEFA President
5 July 2012
UEFA Europa League, Anzhi Makhachkala

Mr. President,

In the name of the Russian Football Union’s Executive Committee, we wish to express our respect and appeal to you concerning the issue named above.

With great sorrow we learned of the UEFA Executive Committee’s decision to forbid our football club, Anzhi Makhachakla, from hosting Europa League matches in Dagestan.

Taking into account the wishes of millions of our country’s fans, we are prepared to present you with all the documents necessary to guarantee security at the matches and compliance with all UEFA standards required to hold competitions in Makhachkala.

Similar guarantees from the proper government agencies may also be obtained from FC Anzhi management.

If you are able to entertain this possibility, we are prepared to begin immediate consultations on the issue, with the inclusion of all concerned parties.

With respect,

Nikita Simonyan,
Acting President, Russian Football Union

http://fc-anji.ru/news/ru/club_news/obrashhenie_ispolkoma_rfs_k_mishelju_platini/

In addition, letters of support for FC Anzhi have been written by Dagestan’s Freestyle Wrestling Team and Budun Budunov, head of the Dagestani Football Union:

Dagestan Wrestling Team Letter of Support:

http://wrestdag.ru/news/ru/news/sbornaja_dagestana_po_vol_noj_bor_be_vistupila_s_obrashheniem_k_uefa/

Budun Budunov Appeal to UEFA:

http://www.dd05.ru/articles/show/myi_imeem_pravo_videt_luchshie_komandyi_kontinenta

In a Bold update, San Antonio won its ninth straight game in the playoffs on Sunday night, 101-98 over the Oklahoma City Thunder. If they stretch the win streak to twelve, I will have secured my first successful Bold prediction. Here’s a link to my post on May 1 when I predicted that the Spurs would be undefeated in the Western Conference Playoffs: Updates: Week of April 30-May 6.

It’s now time for my fourth Bold prediction: The Cincinnati Reds will win the National League pennant this season.

Bold Record: 0-2 (2 predictions pending)

Basketball

San Antonio Spurs, 50-16, 1st place in Western Conference during regular season. 1-0, Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, Western Conference Finals

San Antonio enjoyed another perfect week, 1-0, with a Game 1 victory over the Thunder in their Western Conference Finals playoff series. Despite trailing by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, the Spurs managed to storm back and win 101-98. Their winning streak is now nineteen, with just seven more wins necessary to win the championship.

1) Tuesday, vs. Oklahoma City, 8:00 PM, TNT; 2) Thursday, at Oklahoma City, 8:00 PM, TNT; 3) Saturday, at Oklahoma City, 7:30 PM, TNT

Lokomotiv Kuban

For the fourth straight year, Lokomotiv Kuban hired a new coach in the offseason. This year, Bozhidar Malkovich, the Serbian specialist who helped bring Lokomotiv their first medal, a bronze finish in the Russian Professional Basketball League, did not receive a new contract. Negotiations broke down for undisclosed reasons and the two parties, Malkovich and Lokomotiv general manger, Andrei Vedishchev, chose to part ways. Vedishchev wasted little time finding a replacement, prying Evgenii Pashutin away from Unics Kazan and committing the 43-year-old Russian coach to a three-year contract.

Pashutin is an up-and-comer in Russian basketball, having led Unics to a quarterfinal finish in the Euroleague last season. He’s also been head coach of Spartak St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, in addition to running the Russian U-20 national team. Big things will be expected of him in his return to his childhood home, Krasnodar. The club is determined to improve on its quarterfinal appearance in the Eurocup last season, as well as compete for medals in the competitive VTB League.

Baseball

Cincinnati Reds, 27-21, 1st place in National League Central Division

Cincinnati blew into first place in the division on Thursday night after a 6-3 win over the Braves that capped their four-game sweep of the NL East contenders. Five days later, they still have a 1/2 game lead over St. Louis, with five games this week on the road to division rivals.

The Reds grabbed first place thanks to a streak of quality starting pitching, coupled with timely hitting from the entire lineup. Throughout, the bullpen has also been outstanding. Looking ahead, the Reds primary concern will be their hitting. Based on ERA, the Reds pitching staff is 7th in baseball, while the Reds team batting average languishes in 25th. Though the Reds team OPS is 16th, the offense has undeniably been a disappointment thus far.

1) Monday, at Pittsburgh, lost 4-1; 2) Tuesday, at Pittsburgh, 6:05 PM; 3) Wednesday, at Pittsburgh, 6:05 PM; 4) Friday, at Houston, 7:05 PM; 5) Saturday, at Houston, 6:15 PM, Fox; 6) Sunday, at Houston, 1:05 PM

Northfield Knights, 2-1, 3rd place in Classic Cannon Valley League (CCVL)

The Knights won their second straight game to open the season on Sunday afternoon, knocking off Red Wing 5-4 at home. I planned to attend their Memorial Day game with nearby foes, the Dundas Dukes, but I mixed up the game’s location. By the time I’d figured out where they were actually playing, it didn’t make much sense to go. This week I’ve got the Friday night and Sunday afternoon games circled and hope to make it to at least one of the them.

I was especially disappointed yesterday, however, to miss out because I’d intended to keep score of the game. I’d looked up how to do it, had my pen and paper ready, and planned to write a nice post about the experience. Ah well, I’ll just have to wait until this weekend.

1) Monday, at Dundas Dukes, lost 4-0, CCVL; 2) Wednesday, vs. Bay City Bombers, 7:30 PM, CCVL; 3) Friday, vs. Stewartville-Racine Sharks, 7:30 PM, CCVL; 4) Sunday, vs. Hampton Cardinals, 2:00 PM, CCVL

Soccer

Anzhi Makhachkala

With Anzhi’s second-ever appearance in European cup competition less than two months away, Anzhi fans are anxiously awaiting good news from the Anzhi Arena construction site. Check out my review of the progress being made at Anzhi’s future home here. If the arena is not ready for play by the end of July, Anzhi will likely be forced to play its Europa League home matches outside of Dagestan, in an UEFA-approved stadium.

Since Anzhi’s founding in 1991, the club’s home has been ninety-year-old Dinamo Stadium, located in the heart of the Russian republic of Dagestan’s capital city, Makhachkala. The venue can seat about 16,000 fans and is conveniently located a few hundred yards from the city’s central square. For a brief period, however, in the early 2000′s, Anzhi played in a brand-new 20,000 seat arena, Khazar Stadium, ten kilometres south of Makhachkala. The venue consisted of four disconnected stands of bleachers located on the outskirts of Kaspiisk. The wind howled in from the desolate coastal plain on which the stadium was built, blasting through each unprotected corner of the field to make life miserable for players and fans alike.

Of more importance to the club’s financial health, attendance steadily dropped from year to year at Khazar. In 2000 and 2001, when Anzhi still played at Dinamo and competed in Russia’s top flight, over 13,000 fans regularly packed the stadium. By 2006 no more than a few hundred were turning out at Khazar to watch Anzhi slog through Russia’s second division. Not only was the team struggling to compete, but transportation to and from Khazar was a complete disaster. Most Dagestanis rely on public transportation and fans quite often struggled to make it to the game, or, even worse, were stranded following the match because not enough busses had returned to bring fans back to Makhachkala.

Thus, beginning with the second half of the 2006 season Anzhi returned to its first home, Dinamo Stadium. Attendance immediately rose and the team also steadily improved, finally regaining admission to the Russian Premier League following the 2009 season

Just over a year later, in early 2011, a Dagestani billionaire, Suleiman Kerimov, took control of the club and announced ambitious plans to infuse the squad with new talent and dramatically enhance the club’s infrastructure.

Almost immediately, top international players began showing up in Makhachkala: legendary Brazilian Roberto Carlos, up-and-coming Moroccan Mbarak Boussoufa, Hungarian mid-fielder Balazs Dzsudzsak. In the summer transfer season Anzhi shocked the football world when it plucked 30-year-old Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto’o from Inter Milan, inking Eto’o to a three-year contract worth $90 million. Still others followed, including Yuri Zhirkov, one of Russia’s finest talents, and Christopher Samba, a top defender in the English Premier League.

Not surprisingly, the club’s ambitions on the field were matched by their commitment to provide top-notch facilities for their athletes and fans. Dinamo Stadium received some upgrades, including a brand-new pitch and renovated locker rooms. Given the lack of space available, however, to expand seating, club management began searching for a different location on which to build a new stadium, as well as a modern training complex.

While rumors swirled that the new stadium would be an ultramodern, 40,000-seat, $300 million jewel located outside of Makhachkala, construction quietly began in the early spring of 2011 at Anzhi’s old stadium, Khazar. As Anzhi revealed in the coming months, Khazar Stadium, to be renamed Anzhi Arena, would serve as a transitional arena while the mega stadium location was chosen and eventually transformed into the club’s new home.

The club needed a new home for several reasons while it waited for its ultimate stadium, tentatively titled Anzhi City, to be built. To begin with, Anzhi’s popularity had increased so dramatically in 2011 that many fans were able to get tickets to home matches. Anzhi Arena would seat at least 28,000, allowing the club to increase its box office take, in addition to increasing fan accessibility to Anzhi games. Along with accommodating the fanbase, Anzhi Arena would help to entice more elite players, accustomed to playing in modern European arenas, not backwater Russian stadiums from the early part of the 20th century.

Most importantly, Dinamo did not meet Europa League or Champions League standards. As soon as Suleiman Kerimov took ownership and announced plans to significantly upgrade the level of talent at Anzhi, management began anticipating that the club would qualify for European competition as soon as 2012. If a satisfactory stadium was not available in Dagestan by the summer of 2012, when the Europa League and Champions League begin their qualifying rounds, Anzhi would be forced to host the opposition in a UEFA-approved stadium hundreds of miles from Dagestan and Anzhi’s impassioned fanbase. With the team already based in Kratovo, a suburb outside of Moscow, due to a lack of modern training facilities in Dagestan, and only flying to Makhachkala the day before home matches, moving Anzhi’s highly-anticipated European ties outside of Dagestan would reinforce the stereotype that Anzhi was only loosely connected to its geographical home.

An official depiction of the stadium’s final appearance

In September 2011 an unofficial interview with one of the construction managers suggested that Anzhi might be able to begin play at Anzhi Arena as early as that November. That proved overly optimistic; November came and went with the stadium nowhere near completion. In early December, the chief project manager Idris Idrisov gave an official update on the team website. Though progress was being made, the construction firm responsible for the project, Yugstroiservis, had moved back the stadium’s projected completion date to summer 2012, in time for the beginning of the 2012-2013 season.

Little else was known about Anzhi Arena’s status for the rest of the winter and early spring. A short article, chronicling head coach Guus Hiddink’s visit to the site in early March, provided a glimpse of the on-going construction.

Guus Hiddink visits Anzhi Arena on March 25, 2012

Even from the limited view of the stadium provided, it looked obvious that an enormous amount of work remained. Online forums on the team website, fc-anzhi.ru, and on Anzhi’s fan club website, dd05.ru, bubbled over with questions about whether the project was still on schedule. Rumors abounded that nothing had been done at the site since the previous fall, that workers were not getting paid, and that the stadium had multiple significant structural defects.

The conversation on these forums inevitably turned philosophical: Why is it so difficult to complete significant projects in Dagestan? Cynical answers, of course, were plentiful. Dagestan, even more so than Russia, is beset with rampant corruption. Though Kerimov’s take-over had given hope to many that one of their own, an extremely successful businessman who was familiar with European business practices, might buck the trend and actually ensure that money budgeted for infrastructure projects would be used appropriately and not end up in the wrong pockets, the construction delays and broken promises seemed too depressingly familiar to ignore.

Anzhi Arena’s construction was only meant to be an initial step in the club’s transformation. Kerimov had explicitly characterized his ownership of Anzhi as a social project through which he would strive to strengthen his native land by providing an economic stimulus with the construction of stadiums and influx of football tourists. On top of that, Anzhi planned to build soccer academies throughout Dagestan to educate and develop thousands of young men. All of Dagestan, even those apathetic towards football, could not help but be inspired by the example of their countryman cutting through the webs of corruption and stagnation to provide the republic with stadiums and training academies the rival of the top European football clubs. If this all proved to be empty promises on the wind, it would be a sore blow, indeed, for residents of Russia’s poorest region.

With each passing month, frustration continued to mount among Anzhi fans. The most recent official look at the stadium came courtesy of a May 10 visit to the construction site by several members of the Anzhi fan club, the Wild Division,where they met again with Idris Idrisov and with club official Narvik Sukhaev. Sukhaev informed the visitors that the stadium’s target completion date was now September, though he emphasized that they should not put too much stock in that date, either, as there remained many subjective factors, which could delay the stadium’s grand opening until spring 2013.

Anzhi Arena as of May 10, 2012

A week later, Anzhi’s general director, Aivaz Kaziakhmedov, sat down for an interview with participants from the stadium tour. Kaziakhmedov reiterated that the club hoped to open the stadium in September, but that certain factors out of Anzhi’s control could push its grand opening back to 2013.

He also addressed several concerns that the recent stadium visit had raised among fans. When asked about the rumor that construction workers were not being paid, Kaziakhmedov responded dismissively: “You’ve said, ‘rumors are going around…’ That’s all they are, rumors.” With regard to the amount of work yet to be done on Anzhi Arena, he shared that a new construction firm had recently begun work. “We’ve even gone so far as to convert several stadium offices into dormitories for the new workers,” Kaziakhmedov said.

Near the end  of the interview, Kazhiakhmedov gave his opinion on where Anzhi would host its Europa League matches. With Anzhi Arena expected to be completed no earlier than September, Anzhi’s general director confidently predicted that “most likely, in fact, we’ll begin our Europa League matches at Dinamo.” Of course, if the UEFA inspectors refused to certify Dinamo, Anzhi would be forced to look into hosting matches in either Krasnodar or Vladikavkaz.

Predictably, Anzhi fans reacted cynically to the stadium construction news. DAIDAI, one of the most active forum users at fc-anzhi.ru, answered caustically another user’s question about construction plans for Anzhi City: “What new stadium?:) Just let me see this arena completed; I don’t need anything more:)” Another forum regular, hamza, pondered whether all these delays weren’t part of an elaborate scheme, “Maybe Kerimov did this on purpose so that Dagestanis could see how our “local specialists” work (Anzhi Arena is being built by a Dagestani construction firm). Then, when they begin building the new stadium, no one will be able to question him when he brings foreigners in to do the work.” dragmk recalled how long it took his school in Derbent to be rebuilt, “With us (Dagestanis) everything’s always done through the *ss. My school in Derbent burnt to the ground when I was in ninth grade. Four years later they still hadn’t rebuilt it. Of course, when they began reconstruction, the school principal went out and bought a new Toyota (school principals in Dagestan might officially make $5000/yr, while Toyotas cost more than they do in the United States).”

Until Anzhi Arena is completed, Anzhi fans will continue to question management’s commitment to follow through on its promises. They’ve promised a kingdom to their lucky fans and all Dagestanis. Anzhi Arena’s ongoing construction will be one very important step in determining whether owner Suleiman Kerimov is serious in his plans to energize Dagestani football, and the republic along with it.