Associate Professor S.A. Davydova¹
Dr.Sc.Soc., Professor N.V. Dulina²
PhD, Associate Professor Е.N. Ikingrin³
PhD, Associate Professor Yu.V. Korichko^1
1Nizhnevartovsk State University, Nizhnevartovsk
²Volgograd State University, Volgograd
³Nizhnevartovsk branch of Russian Society of Sociologists, Nizhnevartovsk

Russia is getting ready for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the top-ranking global sport event. Millions of people the world over are waiting for the event and watching the news on the preparations for it. The question is does the Russian youth takes the 2018 FIFA World Cup seriously? The study makes an attempt to find the attitudes by a sociological survey “2018 FIFA World Cup: Russian students’ expectations and viewpoints” sponsored by the Russian Association of Sociologists and performed from November 1 to December 30, 2017 in 25 Russian cities and at 60 universities, with more than 5,000 students (60% female and 40% male) sampled for the survey, with the sample dominated (55.7%) by 1-2-year students. The survey data showed generally positive attitudes of the students to the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a reasonable balance of the perceived benefits and potential negative impacts on the socio-economic situation in the country. The students’ concerns about the 2018 FIFA World Cup were mostly related to the following issues: (1) high financial costs of the event that are expected to have an impact on the living standards; and (2) public security issues during and after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Keywords: youth, students, sport, football, sport event, top-ranking event, public opinion.

References

1. Davydova S.A., Dulina N.V., Ikingrin E.N. Olimpiyskie igry v Sochi v otsenkakh i mneniyakh naseleniya strany [Sochi Olympic Games. in Ratings and Opinions of People of the Country]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2014, no. 12, pp. 34–37.
2. Dulina N.V., Zasypkin V.P., Ikingrin E.N. Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi: obschee i osobennoe v otnoshenii studentov strany k Olimpiyskim igram v Sochi-2014 (Chast 1) (po itogam sotsiologicheskogo issledovaniya) [Hot. Winter. Yours: general and special in domestic students' attitude to Olympic Games in Sochi-2014 (Part 1) (based on results of sociological survey)]. Vestnik Surgutskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta, 2015, no. 1 (34), pp. 148–158.
3. Nielsen Company. [Electronic resource]. Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/ru/ru/about-us.html.
4. Chempionat mira po futbolu FIFA 2018: ozhidaniya i plany [FIFA 2018 Football World Cup]. [Electronic resource]. Available at: http://www.nielsen.com/ru/ru/insights/news/2017/issledovanie-auditorii-c....