Richard van Poortvliet Archives - Page 2 of 2

Richard van Poortvliet: Easy money keeps Russians at home

Home is where the heart is. This is certainly the case for Russian footballers. While players from leagues around Europe flock to play abroad, the same cannot be said for those with a Russian passport. In the few occasions that Russian’s have ventured to ply their trade away from the country of their birth, the end results have been less than spectacular, with a few exceptions.

Russia has plenty of talented footballers, so why is their a reluctance to seek new horizon’s further a field?

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Richard van Poortvliet: Money can’t buy you love. Just ask Anzhi

A brand new stadium, world class players and one of football’s top coaches – things couldn’t have been looking better for Anzhi Makhachkala six months ago as the 2012-13 Russian Premier League season resumed after its winter break. The club was still in with a chance of winning the country’s domestic title and qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League. All seemed to be going to plan for billionaire owner, Suleyman Kerimov who had just spent €35 million in bringing Shakhtar Donetsk’s much sought after forward,

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Richard van Poortvliet: Russian legacy is building at a cost

The view from Sparrow Hills in Moscow is one of the finest in the city. Situated next to the gigantic Moscow State University, the vantage points are stunning. In the immediate vicinity is the Luzhniki complex, including the main stadium, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

The stadium was renovated on that occasion to host those games, and 33 years on, Russia’s largest arena will once again undergo a facelift,

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Richard van Poortvleit: Match fixing? Who cares?

With just three games to go in the Russian Premier League season, the title race is back on. CSKA Moscow had led by eight points, but have seen their advantage cut to just three, with reigning champions Zenit St. Petersburg hot on their heels. However, when all attention should be on the title race, the problem of match fixing is again grabbing just as many of the headlines.

With a number of teams having nothing to play for,

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Richard van Poortvliet: Galitsky puts his cash where his passion is

June 2013 will mark the 10th anniversary of a moment that revolutionised English football and perhaps football in general. A relatively unknown Russian tycoon, Roman Abramovich walked through the gates of Stamford Bridge to purchase the London club and over the next decade would embark on a spending spree, which would run into hundreds of millions of dollars.

There have been a number of Russians who have followed in his footsteps. Alexandre Gaydamak flirted with Portsmouth;

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Richard van Poortvliet: New season in Russia gets cold shoulder from some

It’s been a very long winter in Russia, far too long for pretty much everyone. Since November 2012, the vast majority of the country has been under a blanket of snow and even in early April, the weather shows no sign of abating. The domestic football season resumed almost a month ago, following a three month winter break, in what is the first full campaign since the move to a Autumn to Spring calendar, which brings Russian football in line with it’s counterparts from the majority of Europe.

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Richard van Poortvliet: Russia’s monied power play

By Richard van Poortvliet

The strength of football leagues goes in cycles. In the 90s as a young child I remember looking in awe at the amounts Serie A clubs would spend on players and how the likes of AC Milan and Juventus could always attract the world’s best talent. Since then the Italian league has been usurped by the English Premier League and La Liga in terms of spending power.

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[b]Richard van Poortvliet:[/b] Building football legend in Russia’s northern capital

By Richard van Poortvliet

St. Petersburg, or Leningrad as it was known during the Soviet Union, has always been seen as the cultural capital of Russia. Tourists would descend on the city’s world famous museums and architectural sites. While the Camp Nou and San Siro are must see destinations for any visitors to Barcelona and Milan. The same couldn’t be said of the Petrovsky Stadium in Russia’s northern capital.