MOSCOW, June 18. /TASS/. Hundreds of thousands of football fans have come to the FIFA World Cup that Russia is hosting for the first time in history. Some of them say they have always wanted to see a World Cup with their own eyes, some seek to celebrate their honeymoon in an unusual way, while others want to meet fans from other countries and collect more football memorabilia.
English teacher in love with football
There are a lot of women among World Cup fans. Valeria Davydenko, an English teacher from the Russian city of Volgograd, says she fell in love with football when she was a child. She plans to attend the match between England and Tunisia on Monday night and will root for England.
"I root for England not only because I am an English teacher but also because I feel that the team members and I are kindred spirits," Valeria said, adding that she would certainly try to get an autograph from some of the players.
Honeymoon at stadiums
Darya and Vladislav Troshchenkov, a newly-wed couple from the city of Blagoveshchensk, deliberately decided to spend their honeymoon in Sochi and Moscow, watching World Cup matches. "it was my childhood dream to attend a World Cup," Vladislav said. "We will make it to the Moscow match between Belgium and Tunisia on June 23 and will watch other matches in fan-zones," he added.
The couple looks forward to feel the festive atmosphere and become a part of history.
Veteran football freestyler
Sergei Bronitsky, a 64-year-old devoted football fan from the city of Yoshkar-Ola, has been performing football tricks for 14 years. "I am the oldest active football freestyler in Russia and I plan to participate in a national flash mob," he says.
Sergei and his son came to the city of Kazan to watch the match between France and Australia, in which the Europeans defeated the Australians 2-1. However, the veteran football freestyler likes players from other teams more.
"I like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi more than others. The first always plays well and is dedicated to what he does, while the second one is out of this world," Bronitsky said.
David, Mercedes and Jude
Russian cities have been teeming with foreign football fans for almost a week. David Todd from Scotland roots for Peru because his wife Mercedes is Peruvian. Davis says the two of them had been amazed to see a great number of Peruvians in the city of Saransk, which hosted the match between Peru and Denmark.
American football fan Jude, 51, came to Russia’s Baltic city of Kaliningrad from Philadelphia to see his favorite team, Team Nigeria, play against Croatia.
Jude says he had no doubts when deciding to go to Russia for the World Cup, adding that everyone was very nice and ready to help.