Our correspondents tried to find out how things are in other countries.
According to the survey, over the past two decades the share of regular fans in Russia has decreased by almost five times. In 2005 – 19 percent, in 2024 – only 4. Accordingly, the number of people indifferent to football has increased significantly: in 2005 – 43%, now – 63%, but this is almost two-thirds of the population.
Due to the decline in interest in football, the number of those who can immediately name our player, interesting from the point of view of his professional and human qualities, has noticeably decreased. If in 2009 47% of respondents answered this question in detail, now only 17% answer this question.
In total, only eight players score more than one percent. This is Artem Dzyuba (6%), although he is better known for his scandalous actions, the permanent goalkeeper of CSKA Igor Akinfeev (3%), who has long since completed his career and now acts as an expert on TV Andrei Arshavin (2%), the leader of Monaco Alexander Golovin (2%), Soviet sports legend Lev Yashin, who passed away in 1990 (1%), twin brothers Alexey Miranchuk (ex-Lokomotiv, Italian Atalanta and Torino, now in the American League, 1%) and Anton Miranchuk (ex-Loko, now Swiss Sion, 1%) and playing for the French ” Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Matvey Safonov (1%).
Despite the overall seemingly bleak picture, almost two-thirds of respondents (64%) believe that quite acceptable and even good conditions have been created in Russia for the development of youth football
Alas, our football, as the results of a VTsIOM survey show, is becoming less personalized and recognizable. There is a general decline in interest in the sport. 40 percent of respondents find it difficult to assess, even in general terms, the current situation in domestic football. Only 13 percent of respondents talk about some kind of development and minimal progress, and 27 percent give negative assessments of the state of affairs.
The Russian Football Union (RFU) and the national team headquarters are trying to do their best to ensure that young fans and students of sports schools remain interested in football. Open training of the national squad is a good idea for popularizing the sport. Photo: Mikhail Sinitsyn / TASS
Paradoxically, despite the overall seemingly bleak picture, almost two-thirds of those surveyed (64%) believe that quite acceptable and even good conditions have been created in Russia for the development of youth football. Moreover, over the past ten years, the number of ordinary fans holding this opinion has increased by 10%.
Surprisingly: the situation with the preparation of the nearest reserve, according to VTsIOM, people are now more aware of the situation in professional football. Most likely, this is due to the fact that there are a lot of football players in the country, both at the sports school level and as amateurs. Russian football, as an integral part of elite sport, is clearly inferior in terms of entertainment to the leading foreign leagues, but the game itself still remains attractive.
