Moscow's official FIFA fan zone has a maximum capacity of 25,000.GETTY IMAGES
Local officials said that football fans planning to watch Russia take on Uruguay in the World Cup on giant outdoor screens in Moscow on Monday "should consider avoiding the official FIFA fan zone due to potential overcrowding," according to Stubbs & Ostroukh of REUTERS. Russia's "surprise success at the World Cup," going through to the final-16 for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, "has energized thousands of home fans." Moscow's official FIFA fan zone, located on the Sparrow Hills campus of Moscow State University, "has become a magnet for Russian fans" who cannot get to the matches. That has "sometimes forced organizers to limit the number of people allowed into the fan zone," which has a maximum capacity of 25,000, "drawing criticism from some Muscovites" who say that authorities in a city of around 12 million people "should have been prepared for much larger crowds." Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin's office said in a statement, "Fans are asked not to choose only Sparrow Hills to watch the games." Moscow Sport & Tourism Department Head Nikolai Gulyaev said that fans in the Russian capital "would have more luck watching Monday's game in their local bar" (REUTERS, 6/23).
