Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/2125028/far-reaching-gazprom-deals-show-russias-state-backed-sports
Sport/ Other Sport

Far-reaching Gazprom deals show Russia’s state-backed sports sponsorship soft power play is flexing its muscles

From the 2018 World Cup to the gas giant’s Europe-wide network, Moscow is using sport to reinforce its image at home and abroad

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Fifa president Gianni Infantino at the FC Krasnodar Stadium in Krasnodar, Russia. Photo: AP

Russia recently launched the official poster that will be used to promote the 2018 Fifa World Cup. It portrays the image of leaping goalkeeper Lev Yashin, a Russian football great during the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s.

The imagery used in the poster prompted all manner of discussion on news and social media. Consensus seemed to be the semiotics of it hark back to communist era Soviet Union, when the country was in its pomp and at the height of its global power. In other words, the inference is Russia wants to be considered great again.