British Invasion of Moscow

During the past six days I have seen numerous reports on Sky Sports about the "British Invasion of Moscow" that will take place in two weeks time. As many as 50,000 English football fans are expected to travel to Moscow for the Champions League Final match between Manchester United and Chelsea that will be played on May 21st.

All the news I have seen so far has been from the British perspective. I'd be interested to know more about what has been in the Russian news about this historic all-England Champions League Final. I'd also be curious to know if the residents of Moscow are being advised to stay away from the area surrounding the Luzhniki Stadium on the day of the match?

I thought I would mention too that the fans of England's two top football clubs won't be required to have a visa if they want to travel to Moscow to watch the Champions League final . 8)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... eur106.xml

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Ticket holders travelling to Moscow for the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea received a boost yesterday when it was confirmed that they would not now need a visa to enter Russia.

The move follows communication between Uefa president Michel Platini and the Russia president Vladimir Putin amid fears that the backlog of processing thousands of visas could lead to some fans missing the final.

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Originally Posted by Vyborg

'd also be curious to know if the residents of Moscow are being advised to stay away from the area surrounding the Luzhniki Stadium on the day of the match?

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They do not need to be advised to be awared. However, common practice is that after the end of the match all fans are routed directly to the nearest metro station and are not allowed to roam around this area and express their feelings right there, damaging property.

Id like to see a drunken upset football fan try to pick a fight with a member on OMAH. Man that would be sweet.

I would probably fear more for the safety of British football fans rather than of the nearest property.

The Russian Champions Zenit St Petersburg have won the UEFA Cup in Manchester, England one week before the "All England" CL Final will be played in Moscow:

Arshavin silences Rangers hordes

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 28352.html

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Zenit St Petersburg struck a blow for the new era of Russian football last night, lifting the Uefa Cup thanks to goals by Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyrianov in a match illuminated by the skills of Andrei Arshavin.

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Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 0 Rangers

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=240762&cc=5901

Поздравляю с победой питерцев!

English hooligans are cowards http://www.rac-forum.org/forum/image...ies/new/kv.gif Afraid to fight ))) At least here in Moscow with our hools))

So they don't need visa? In Manchester was a lot of trouble with the Rangers fans. There was also a pitch invasion from Zenith fans.

Lot's of supporters from Manchester and Chelsea will come without a ticket, do they need visa?

As football fan, I think it's not good that 2teams from the same country play the CL final.

if its only for 24 hours to watch the match you dont need a visa

http://www.Kommersant.com
has a couple articles as well as
http://www.Themoscowtimes.com
I'm not big on soccer (yes, soccer), so I haven't read anything in Russian language.

It's not soccer, it's Football!

New President Dmitry Medvedev and even newer Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will both skip the match, a government spokesman said.