ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) – As FIFA descends on St. Petersburg for the World Cup preliminary draw Saturday, it is entering the capital of a sponsorship empire.
Government-controlled Russian gas company Gazprom is a huge presence in St. Petersburg, where it owns Russian champion football club Zenit and bases many of its roughly 400,000 staff. Entire streets in the historic center are lined with boards on lampposts reading: “Gazprom for the city.”
Gazprom, whose boss Alexei Miller is a close political ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is almost as omnipresent in world football.
It is a major FIFA sponsor ahead of Russia’s 2018 World Cup, its logo prominent at the draw ceremony. With FIFA embroiled in scandal after the arrests of officials in May, some FIFA sponsors have criticized the organization and its president Sepp Blatter, but Gazprom has not. By sponsoring the Champions League, it has access to UEFA boss Michel Platini, the favorite to succeed Blatter.
Despite spending an estimated $100 million a year to display its brand in some of world soccer’s most desirable competitions, Gazprom doesn’t sell directly to fans. Instead it specializes in vast energy supply, selling billions of cubic meters of Russian gas.