From Big Sport to Big Business - Soccer in Russia from Communism to Capitalism

• In Event: The 2018 World Cup in Russia

Abstract

This paper will explore the transition of football from communism to capitalism, in other words, from official amateurism to today’s big business professionalism in the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space. Along with ice hockey, football was the most popular sport in the Soviet Union. As in the west, the players of the big clubs Spartak Moscow, Dynamo Kyiv, CSKA Moscow, and Dinamo Moscow, just to name a few, were stars that were easily recognized in the Soviet sport scene.

Author

• Karl Manuel Veth, King's College London (UK)