Russia gears up for World Cup draw today

MOSCOW, Nov 30 (AFP): The World Cup draw in the Kremlin launches on Friday Russia's bid to turn a page on its history of football hooliganism and racism while warding off a terror threat linked to Moscow's intervention in Syria.
The success of the tournament is also a matter of personal pride for Vladimir Putin after the Russian strongman helped wrest the June 14-July 15 competition from England in an ugly 2010 battle before relations with the West dramatically collapsed over Ukraine.
It is a $11.5-billion (9.7-billion-euro) gamble for which many of the 11 host cities underwent their first major post-Soviet facelifts with the potential to create the same "white elephant" stadiums and hotels left behind by the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.
And the 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) between the westernmost stadium in Kaliningrad near Poland and easterly one in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg -- the same distance separating Paris and Moscow -- will test the fans' resolve.
Displays of racism in Russian football multiplied after foreign players arrived once the Iron Curtain fell and the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991.
Brazilian striker Hulk said he heard monkey chants at "almost every match" when he led Zenit Saint Petersburg to a title and two second-place finishes between 2012 and 2016.

Map of Russia locating the 2018 World Cup stadiums. — AFP