MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. Gosuslugi, Russia’s state-run web-portal providing various state services, will start accepting on June 4 applications for Fan IDs, the portal said in a statement on its official website on Friday.
According to the statement, Gosuslugi will be the final instance to approve the issuance of the Fan-ID for everyone wishing to attend football matches. The document will be required for the purchase of either a one-match ticket or a multiple-entry ticket for the season.
Fan ID registration with Gosuslugi web-portal will be obligatory for everyone aiming to buy a ticket to attend any football match of the Russian Premier League. It has been also stated that Fan IDs must be issued to everyone wishing to be present at stadiums during matches, including football fans, organizers, participants of the tournaments and media representatives.
Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said on June 1 that six stadiums across Russia will be operating the Fan ID system beginning with a new season of the Russian Premier League (RPL).
Maxim Mitrofanov, the Russian Football Union’s (RFU) development chief executive, announced last month that six football stadiums across Russia would resort to using the Fan ID system beginning with the new RPL season.
RFU’s development chief executive, Mitrofanov, stated on May 19 that six football stadiums across the country would start using the Fan ID system during the upcoming Russia’s high-tier league’s season, but declined to name their locations.
On December 30, 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a draft on the introduction of Fan ID documents, which will be required for fans to attend sports tournaments in the country starting from June 1, 2022.
The bill was passed earlier in all readings by the State Duma - the lower house of the Russian parliament - with an amendment correcting the date of the new regulation’s introduction, which now stands at June 1, 2022. Russia’s Federation Council - the upper house of the country’s parliament - approved the bill on December 24, 2021.
Russia’s Fan ID was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body - FIFA. The Fan ID system was also in place during matches of the 2020 UEFA Euro Cup in St. Petersburg last summer.
A Fan ID holder was allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of global football tournaments. Fan IDs were obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend football matches.
