Source: fan group of FC Rotor
Volgograd surpassed Moscow
Everyone is used to the fact that matches of the Second League of the Russian Championship are attended by 500-1000 fans at most, among which there are many acquaintances and friends of the players themselves. Of course, there are pleasant exceptions, but globally, not everything is good with attendance. Volgograd “Rotor” broke all the patterns and gathered 23,150 spectators in the stands of their stadium in the starting round.
This is more than came to the stands of CSKA and Lokomotiv in total, and these are the two top RPL clubs. In general, Rotor outright beat all the teams from Moscow in terms of attendance. The Moscow derby between Dynamo and Torpedo was attended by just under 14,000 people. Recall that Torpedo has just returned to the elite division, and in theory there should be great interest in the team. Dynamo had a great last season and are demonstrating a great game this year.
The attendance of the RPL teams is clearly affected by the situation with the fan card, but even in such conditions it is impressive that they were not even close to able to gather an audience that came to the Volgograd Arena on July 24. Moreover, it was raining in the hero city that day, which scared away some of the fans. In sunny weather, regarding 30 thousand would probably have gathered in the stands. What can I say if more than a thousand fans came to an open training session before the match. It all looks pretty surreal. How might such an audience come to the Second League?
More than 30 thousand went to Rotor in the FNL
Those who have followed Rotor in recent years should not be surprised. Three or four years ago, the team easily collected more than 20 thousand fans in the FNL, and for matches once morest Shinnik and Torpedo in the championship season, the audience exceeded 30 thousand spectators. Of course, the legacy of the World Cup helped the team. A chic stadium was built in the city, and two large parks were completely restored nearby. With Mamaev Kurgan literally across the road, all this creates excellent conditions for having a great and useful time.
Of course, the success of the club in the 90s also played a significant role, when Rotor steadily fought for the championship, reached the final of the Russian Cup, and passed Manchester United in the UEFA Cup. The legacy of that team of Viktor Prokopenko with the legendary Veretennikov, Niederhaus and Esipov in Volgograd is not forgotten.
Unfortunately, the long-awaited entry of Rotor into the RPL two years ago coincided with the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, which is why the attendance, in principle, might not be high, and a number of matches were completely held in empty stands. This was probably one of the reasons why the Volgograd club flew out of the elite division. Nothing worked out for the team the next year in the FNL. With one of the best budgets in the league, Rotor managed to fly into the Second League.
Big reboot in League Two
Changes were expected in the city and they were ready to endure even a performance in the “South” zone. If only they changed the leadership, the composition and became more open to the fans. And so it happened. Rotor was headed by a young coach Alexei Stukalov, who made some noise in the RPL with Ufa, whose father Boris just once worked in the coaching staff of Volgograd together with Prokopenko. Therefore, for Stukalov Jr., this is not a foreign club.
Fedor Shcherbachenko, who is also well known to Volgograd fans, was invited to play the role of sports director. He coached Rotor several times, he is very fond of the club’s fans and is called “Uncle Fedor”. Actually, the team was given the task of returning to the RPL for two years. Very ambitious, but both Stukalov and Shcherbachenko came here for these goals. The head coach of Rotor admitted that he would not have agreed to move to the Second League if it were not regarding Volgograd.
The team had to be assembled very quickly, because until the last moment there was an option in which Rotor would remain in the FNL. Because of this, the players were in limbo. As a result, the club was recruited “on the knee”, and in such conditions the line-up was very decent. What is the arrival of Artem Maksimenko worth, who had options even in RPL clubs. But the attacking midfielder believed in the Volgograd project and showed himself excellently in the first match.
In the opening match with Forte, it was Maksimenko who became the main character. First, he gave an assist to Nikita Karmaev from a corner, and then made a smart solo pass in the style of Arjen Robben and sent the second ball into the opponent’s goal. More than 23 thousand spectators were delighted. The Volgograd fan was given hope that the club had finally chosen the right path of development. And if it takes a year or two to play in the lower leagues, then so be it.
Utkin is dissatisfied
Journalist Vasily Utkin tried to throw a barrel of tar on this holiday at the Volgograd-Arena by writing on his Telegram channel that tickets for the team’s match with Forte were given to people for free. Vasily has a long-standing “love” for the club. Once he called Volgograd “the city of gopniks”, to which the team’s fans gave the journalist a soft toy in the form of a duck in the form of “Rotor”.
Some of the tickets were indeed sold free of charge by the Football Federation of the Volgograd Region, this is an absolutely normal practice. However, most of the spectators still came to the stadium on purchased tickets.
Alexander Govorov
