Is Russia fit to host the next World Cup?

Much has been made about the decision to give Qatar the 2022 World Cup but a few days after the latest incident of racism in Russia, question marks are being raised about the Russians' capabilities of hosting a safe and successful tournament.

Ex-Arsenal man, Emmanuel Frimpong, was sent off for Russian outfit FC Ufa was flipping the bird whilst responding to racist monkey chants from Spartak Moscow fans and now faces a multi-match league ban.

On top of that, his own club's general director, Shamil Gazizov, criticised the Ghanaian: "What Frimpong did was wrong. Sometimes you even have to hold back the tears and put up with it." In Russia, any player who is racially abused has to just 'put up with it'.

Frimpong told reporters after the match: "When the match was stopped, the fans started shouting ‘monkey’ at me. Then the monkey chants started. I don’t have any problems with the Spartak fans in general. I just did not keep my cool, I showed my emotions and it was my mistake. I want to say sorry for what I did.”

So not only have Russia accepted racism, they have made a player who was visibly upset apologise for standing up to it - albeit, in a counterproductive manner. But what can a player do in response?

Three other racially abused players in Russia since 2013 have been punished for making insulting gestures in response to the racist abuse they receive from fans. A recent report has shown that over 100 racism-related incidents in football over the last two seasons. A fitting place to host a carnival of football in a place where they reduce certain players to nothing more than barbaric carnival animals.

But Russia doesn't just stop at racism, in 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill banning the "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors.” The 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar holds a fairly lax view on homosexuality in their country as being gay is illegal...

LA Galaxy's Robbie Rogers has responded to FIFA's 'insane' decision to give the next two World Cups to homophobic countries, he said: "“I would never pressure anyone into speaking about the issue but it is absolutely insane. If you look at the next few World Cups, they are in places where, if I were to go, I would possibly be imprisoned or beat up or stoned to death. It is pretty ridiculous."

He went onto say: "There is going to be number of gay fans that will go to watch the sport. Of course there is going to be another gay footballer there. I think it is an issue that needs to be spoken about and discussed with FIFA because every player should feel safe when they go to a World Cup."

Rogers' interview with Sky Sports about 'coming out' and FIFA's decision to give Russia and Qatar the next two World Cups, respectively. 

It is not 100% certain whether or not Russia and Qatar will host the next two World Cups due to the recent circus of corruption at FIFA, but if they do, there are numerous concerns for travelling fans and players.