Banning booze at World Cup 2018 won't help curb violence '” but fan parks will

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Joel Rookwood, University of Central Lancashire

Some of the biggest names in world football attended the glittering 2018 FIFA World Cup draw at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The red carpet event had all the glitz and glamour of a Hollywood movie premier.

One thing that the organisers would have wanted to brush under that expensive red carpet, however, is the looming shadow of fan violence – something which marred Euro 2016 and which notably involved Russian supporters. So what can be done to curb the threat of a “festival of violence” next summer?

Deputy chief of police Andrei Zakharov is charged with ensuring public order in Moscow for 2018. He has declared Russia’s capital “definitely safe” for those travelling to the World Cup, citing the experience of 2,645 ticketed Liverpool and Manchester United supporters in this season’s Champions League. Zakharov said:

We deployed police to meet them and implemented measures according to the information we had. Everything will be secure, there is nothing to be afraid of.

However, during the previous World Cup more than a million visitors from 203 countries travelled to Brazil. Russia’s World Cup will be staged in 11 cities, spread across a distance of 2,000 miles east to west and 1,500 miles north to south. Organisers face the challenge of managing an unprecedentedly diverse and extensive visitor profile for the month-long event, which features 64 matches with 32 teams. As an established component of recent World Cups, “