Sports minister slams CIS League project

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Published time: December 29, 2012 13:17
Edited time: December 29, 2012 17:17

The discussed project of a new football league which would unite the top clubs from the former Soviet States is a false goal, believes Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko.

­“We see that the popularity of football [in Russia] is decreasing, and without proper events to promote this sport the interest towards it can be quickly lost,” Mutko told Rossiya 2 channel. “But instead of development, we see false goal being set. And the CIS Championships is surely one of those."

The idea of recreating a championship of Soviet Union was raised by Gazprom boss Aleksey Miller, and received backing from CSKA Moscow President Evgeny Giner and Anzhi CEO, Konstantin Remchukov.

"Nobody has the right to organize a hobnob,” the official stressed. “If this championship will receive they status of commercial event, then let them play as they want, finding dates outside the official calendar. But no national federation would ever agree to give quotas in European events to such a tournament.”

The authors of CIS League project believe it’ll take them one-and-a-half years to prepare everything for the championship’s maiden season.

Meanwhile, clubs from Georgia and Azerbaijan have already stated that they have no interest of playing in the same league with their former Soviet neighbors.