They just find a place because they are true fans and they will stay wherever they can. Manuel just to followup on because ofuick the ruble crisis, russia decided to downsize to of the stadiums two of the stadiums. How does this work . Why do people not suggest cut these stadiums altogether . They are already four over the requirement. What kind of negotiation process goes on when this kind of stuff happens . Lisa i can tell you in brazil, fifa continually told brazil you dont need to be in 12 stadiums. You really need to be innate. The country you need to be in eight. The country is too large. Im sure they said the same thing to russia. But its their money. They are spending it. So im going to refer back to athletes. How many are broke after they are playing . Their agents tell them, put money aside, dont spend this money. But in the end, it is the countrys own money. And if they want to spend it, they are going to spend it. Manuel it is an interesting comparison. Its like serving alcohol to someone who is an alcoholic. Lisa they are using it as a showcase and they are also using it for political reasons. So putin may want this region to be happy and to vote for him. Marlene if i may join in that discussion fifa is not the one deciding what is a domestic discussion going on between the ridge and now it is and the regional elites. And the oligarchs who are influencing the local governments. It is politically so important for creating the unity between the different regions. Strange for sochi. Manuel marlene, one of the questions, i mean, the world cup is hosted from moscow. That is the center of it all. But what kind of effect do you think has a tournament like that on a nation . Where russia represents its nationalism sort of through this big event . Event likethink an this means in a country like russia . Marlene globally, it means a lot for every country receiving this kind of event. Verynk we should think carefully that what is happening in russia is so specific. All these issues are happening in all these country all these countries. But in russia, the fact that the marginalization on russia internationally is very much visible on the way the russia nvidia is speaking to that one population. I went to russia last month and you could really feel people feel misunderstood. So you can see already the political authorities will try to lock consensus and get Popular Support for their own population in trying to make the cup a big event that really shows again, as sochi, the legitimacy of russia to be a great power and to be recognized. I think it will be a highlevel Popular Support. After surgery, there is a general point of view among the russian population that the surgery games were positive the sochi games were positive not only for the russian image abroad, but the dynamism in russia. It hasnt really demonstrated for the region. But the Mainstream Media pushing for telling the population that everything is an economic success. You can see already in the survey we have that the population hopes a lot that things will have changed a lot 2018 and that russia will be recognized internationally and the financial benefits for each city receiving the cup will be very visible. You have popular pressure in each of the selected cities. You can really see how people hope it will help improve the wellbeing of the population. The big issue being, of course, the future of the economic crisis and how we could impact withas strategy globally this kind of showcase. Manuel i will direct the next question to you, lori. What is the what is it like to be in event like the world cup . We have a cup of pointers here with the infrastructure, etc. You played in germany. What does it mean for the athlete coming to a country like russia, playing a new facilities . What effect does it have on the football infrastructure on the ground and what is it like for the athlete playing there . Lori thank you. And a time when you are in an international competition, it anlly helps offer opportunity to bridge cultural differences, which can aid in more awareness and appreciation in differences and diversity. I think it really depends on the athletes. I have had you know, in germany, we didnt have many issues. It was a spectacular event. Canada put on a Wonderful World cup for the women. So specifically for russia in 2018, i know i have had some teammates play over there, go over there and play. I played a little bit in germany, in their legs. Professional league, but there wasnt an infrastructure to really play the players. So there was some corruption in that regard as well. Aspect, i think it will be interesting to see you know, 1. I like to bring up prior to the sochi olympics, one organization i am involved in is athlete ally. About a hundred. A hundred professional athletes can together to basically bring up the draconian antigay law that they had in place and put pressure on the modifyforce them to their olympic charter deliver six. And principle 6. The did have them. There is a way to inspire athletes not just within their sporting event that they are participating in, but also to inspire change and bring these cultural differences outside the sport. I think you see that again prior to the sochi olympics. A lot ofis also within the u. S. Athletes. Within the world cup that just took place in canada, you saw the nigerian athletes cant lgbtq issues or even the russians in fear of persecution. With my friends who played in the league in russia, they can bring those Lessons Learned that they experienced over there back and how we can implement and help change going into the 2018 world cup. If that make sense. Manuel yeah. Marlene, i was wondering if you could comment on these things. Especially what kind of out impact do you think athletes all over the world coming to russia, what kind of impact will that russians themselves and also on the image of russia in general . Marlene two things. On the antigay legislation in russia and the lgbt issue, of course, the preparation of the cup, it is fully open in russia. But if you can consider that you have the media pressure coming from the political authorities it is a very, conservative society where these issues are very difficult to be discussed. We should hope that everything will change faster in russia around this issue. You really can see the ovulation for all these they population all of these antigay to have an open discussion on this issue, minorities have friends who are suffering athletes and try to open the discussion. But that is a very sensitive issue that is really played out by the authorities. So that is something that will be visible in two or three years when we are close to the days of the cup. Globally, and other important issue, the results of the cup could be more positive. Everything related to the high level of xenophobia in russia, showing on Tv International group playing together and so on around sport, i think that is a good message that will probably impact more, especially the young generation of russians who are kind of xenophobic just because they dont know the other and they dont have a narrative or they dont know how to learn to discuss these kind of cultural differences. On that, i am more optimistic the the couple have than on gay lesbian issue that is really difficult right now. Manuel ive been working very closely with a Company Called fair in russia. I recently visited moscow for an event that had to deal with racism and xenophobia in russian football. Struck methat really was the fact that the dialogue had finally started. One thing that i repeatedly wanted out to journalists in russia was sort of at this point , why the west is targeting u. S. Targeting us because of the racism issue. For you guys to address issues, such as racism, xenophobia or even gender equality, do it now. If you do it now, he still have three years which is of course not enough to fix the problems, but if you do it now and you show good faith and addressing it, i think you will be in a much better situation than you with then if you just let it go. It would be really similar to what ukraine i think what you say is very interesting. We still are quite a long ways off in actually resolving a lot of the issues. Points that iher wanted to make in terms of spreading the world cup across , it does force people to go to other cities in russia other than moscow and st. Petersburg. Ograd, places that most americans and europeans wouldnt even know existed. Similar to brazil, everybody just goes to rio or maybe sao paulo, but they really push people to visit other places. Those citizens in those locations get to meet foreigners as well. No, italy, im surprised how many of the locals said, this is great. And thats italy. Think what this is going to do to russia. One other thing is that ive heard over and over how german football has improved since posting the 2006 world cup. And what impact will that have on russia now that theyll have some infrastructure . They do receive some money. About 100 million or more from fifa. Not saying that is going to go far because of corruption, etc. What does this do for football . You would be better able to answer that . Manuel as i said in the opening remarks, one of the things that has happened recently is that the italian coach who made millions and millions of dollars was fired by the russian football union. He was more to blame for having very poor results, but he wasnt given very much to work with in the beginning because the infrastructure that he was given , the training grounds, everything, they match up to what german and english have, but he wasnt given that kind of infrastructure and he wasnt given the material. The players were old and russia has missed that playing development step. There is a bright spot. Ago won,just two years the 19s a big deal, and finished second at this years euros. I was skeptical that these players would be ready in time for the world cup, but i think what you are saying in regards to germany, germany take started their project. The goal was actually to win, which they failed to do, but it brought up the current generation that won the world cup in 2014. I think you are right. A tournament like that can go a football inreunite a traditional football country especially. Lori, if you want to maybe comment on that as well and what kind of impact a world cup can have on players in that country. As a canadian, i wonder what it will be like for canada in the upcoming years. Great example, the 1999 world cup, just how electrifying that can be and really ignite a country and get them excited about the sport, and encourage and propel other youth athletes to get involved in that sport as well. 1999, we had a little bit of a lull afterwards between our professional leagues in the early 2000s to the late 2000s, but i think what happened in germany happened here. Myselfted players like who were coming up the ranks to get involved and to play more often, and you see that group with the world cup. We hadnt won the world cup since 1999. Just like germany, it can get people excited. It also empowers, specifically with the females, to speak out about issues. In this world cup, not only did we win, but you saw quite a few more athletes who spoke out, came out publicly, and arguably in my opinion at some of their best world cups. I think that inspires and creates a freer level of play. , wheny at a level that you are playing in an environment where you are free and being your true self, i think you saw that. Being a wonderful role model for upcoming female athletes as well. Manuel one image that stood out for me was [indiscernible] hugging her partner after the u. S. Won the world cup in vancouver. Away, we have Robbie Rogers who is openly gay. He could be at the world cup maybe. Do you think in three years time, we might have a male gay athlete playing at the world cup . [indiscernible] think we could have Something Like that in russia or is it still too far away in terms of gender equality . Lori it is tough to say. It is exciting for me to talk hugging andombak kissing her partner, having one of the best tournaments of her career so far. I think that was inspired by her coming out and being true to herself. Is, weortunate thing still have a ways to go in terms of, as i mentioned earlier, nigeria and russia, fear of persecution if they come out, soabout being gay, or i think we still unfortunately have a way to go. Im only speaking about my experiences. Which ay is a platform bunch of us players in the u. S. Team are involved in. That is a platform to speak about advocacy and a quality. But you dont see that in a lot of other countries. Even though thats exciting on one end, it is still quite unfortunate on another. I think it is hard to say. I would say it is a little too soon. There is a move both within the Olympic Movement and fifa to better educate the National Football associations on Good Governance and fair play and equality and situations like this. It will take time. Just look at our country. Racistfree. t we have our challenges too. And i think we are all growing. We are all trying to improve. It is not going to happen overnight because you are bringing the world cup here. A lot of people think, the world cup is coming, everything is going to be wonderful now. It just doesnt happen. I think it can move the needle and that is what we are trying to use sports four. If we work hard enough and use the media and players, we can move the needle a little bit, but it is not going to move you forward 50 years. Specifically for this womens world cup, it could be a Good Platform for that. Move the needle a little bit. Manuel yeah. Lisa this goes back to the 1936 Olympic Games, jesse owens, hitler. There is example after example of how sports has had an influence on society. Lori you mentioned manuel you mentioned the influence on society. Im going to ask this question to marlene. Howyou think important is the world cup as a soft power for a country like russia, and when you take the example of the sochi olympics, where it was very much a display of, they were called putins games, how do you think this will play out in the world cup 2018, especially with regards to the election held three months before the tournament kicks off. Marlene thats the kind of hard balance game. It will be a difficult balance game for russia. They will be under the media spotlight for their president ial election a few months before. They will have to manage the soft power. As i said in my introduction, that will be the first major soft power event after the ukrainian crisis. That will be interesting to see. Well as itl work works for the soft power that russia displayed or it will not be so successful. What seems to be so important is that it will be the last fourthill be in his mandate, and officially the last one. So that is something where, at least if he hopes to stay until the last day of the last mandate, it will be a very symbolic importance for him in a that heway of showing has almost 20 years of political presence in russia. Theerms of soft power, Olympic Games are all the sports. This is the soccer cup. Summer is so much linked for russian population to europe. It is a european sport. You really want to play with the big european countries. In a sense, it makes that kind of symbolism of the world cup even more visible. You really have to interact with countries that russia consider as its equal, or the ones she wants to partner with, the u. S. And european countries. I think that will be a kind of very highlevel focus for russia and for the population. That is the narrative around this kind of reconciliation. That will be a kind of howresting moment to see they will suddenly have to display a very positive narrative about western culture. Make the shiftto before the cup arrives. Lori you want to add to that manuel you want to add to that . Eventsost hosts of major want to bring visitors in. Im a little confused on the russian visa process. There were so many people who did not go to sochi, one because of the fear the u. S. Media put in everybody, but also the process you had to go through to get to sochi. All the visa requirements and all that. Also, i was brought over to advance andonths in i supposedly was doing a Sports Tourism session. I said, wheres the tourism people . One of my specializations is how to leverage major events to increase tourism and Economic Impact in the future. And they are like, we dont have any Tourism Development here. I said, this is your chance to do that. So theres a missed opportunity if russia maybe this could be their platform, talking about building a tourism infrastructure, doing a plan, building their image, then more people would go to russia as a tourist destination. Again, im not sure they really want that to happen. Intersect, ito believe russia will actually get rid of the visa process for world cup ticket holders. That will already make it a lot easier. If we get any indication from brazil, i believe 40,000 americans traveled to brazil for the world cup, and brazil had a visa process for americans as well. That gives us an idea where we go with this if you maybe want to comment on that. Lisa brazil waived the visa fee for americans if they showed they had an actual ticket. I have not yet heard that for russia. It would be great if they waived on top of the visa, we had to get a tourist or olympics spectator card in sochi as well. There was two things we had to go through. Manuel wouldnt it be in the best interest of a country like tosia to bring in tourists say, we are an open society . Isnt that in the best interest of a host country in general . Lisa that is what they should be doing. Everybody says the olympics in greece were the fault of the economy right now. I dont think it was. It was poor planning. I got a call six weeks ahead of time, what can we do to leverage the games you are late. If you go to fifas website, they have each city listed and a description of the cities. But it is kind of old. You have to spice it up a little bit. They are just not used to marketing and Tourism Marketing especially. I think they need some help there. Maybe y last point, i hope for russia that the next big event in football is the. Uro 2016 in france i think traditionally the world cup kicks off after that. Then it is one year to the confederation cup, two years to the world cup. I think that will be sort of the deadline, wouldnt it, for a country like russia to get ready and say, this is what we are doing. Lisa no, they should start now. [laughter] lisa because now, you start working with sponsors. After the last world cup, everybody starts looking at the and one, doing other plans, now is when they need to start. So you have it all planned, you kick it off during the euro, but if you dont start planning until euro, you are not going to be ready in 2018. Planning takes a while. Manuel thank you. One last question, and this is for everyone. Mind, and maybe we start with marlene on the right, do you think it is worth hosting the world cup . Marlene yes. Manuel why . Not letting you off the hook that easy. Marlene i think it is very important for a country like russia to get this kind of recognition. That is an important tool. We have been discussing how russias soft power will be playing around the cup. That is also our own soft power that we can use on that occasion. I think it is a nice way where we can celebrate what we share together with russia and try to put everyone at the table of the discussion. I think it is a wonderful opportunity on both sides. We can also flavor it. Also have to [indiscernible] the population will be very much interested in sharing more stories about their experiences. I think everything makes sense. Lori i would agree. Just provides an open dialogue for some of these social issues, whether it is racism or gender equality issues. Anytime you can bring some of these issues to light, it can be always positive. I think theres a lot of misunderstanding in media about the money and how it is spent and all of that, like the boston situation. I think the bostonians lost a great opportunity to host an event that would probably change their city. But maybe a lot of people in boston dont want their ci ty changed. Russia, it is as we discussed before, an opportunity to open them up a little bit. The world cup has never gone that way in that area. I think that is what fifa was saying. Open up and get more people excited about football and give them some infrastructure. Overall, i think theres a lot of tangible and intangible theres the leaders, and people will make money off of it or do it for their own reasons, but lets look at other reasons too, like the volunteers and the youth. Remarks, ifinal think that russia has a fantastic opportunity with this world cup. This world cup is, in my opinion, long overdue. Russia is the oldest and biggest european country to have never hosted the world cup in the past. There has been a lot of debate on the process. I want to take that aside and leave it open. We can probably agree that everyone who did on that world cup probably has some dirt on their hands. I think russia 2018 is a huge opportunity, not just because , but because it will open up a dialogue as you said. Point where weis are in u. S. Western relations, that is probably the best thing that could happen to us right now. Thank you. We will do question and answer now. I will take the opportunity to ask one question myself. We are here in d. C. , in virginia, we have a proud tradition of womens soccer. If you could just talk to us about our soccer scene here in d. C. And the united states. We are getting a new stadium for united. Look back at the u. S. Right now. We now have premier league on nbc and the womens cup was very successful in terms of television. Talks u. S. About that. Time extremely exciting for women soccer. And i would argue womens sports in general. I dont know how many people know we actually have a professional Womens League and a team in d. C. I dont know why we call ourselves d. C. When it is an hour away, but that is beside the point. Since the world cup though, we have nine teams in the league and every stadium up until i want to say last weekend was sold out for the most part. Theres an exciting time for out justyers, to speak in regards to promoting the game, promoting womens sports in general. So if you do live close to germantown, you should check out the washington spirits. We do have one of the best stadiums in the league, at the germantown soccer plax. It is an exciting time to get remotewomen soccer and and promote gender equality in that regard too. Anything else i should speak about more . We are entering the last few games, last month of the season, so it is pretty tight playoffs. We talk about a threeweek break in the middle of the season. Now, the world cup players and the National Players as well are back playing with their teams, which has sparked excitement as well around the league. I would argue it is the most Competitive League around the world. Definitely athletically. Product,onderful familyfriendly environment. I should be a spokeswoman for the league. Definitely check out a game. Unless something goes terribly wrong, we should make the playoffs. [indiscernible] thank you. This question is for marlene. The socialreciate soft power economic benefits of russia hosting the world cup. Im of ukrainian descent. I have a completely different perspective on this, a biased perspective obviously, because i betweenanalogy drawn hitler hosting the 1936 games, i see putin as being the 21st century hitler, getting more emboldened by showcasing again after sochi, i cant fathom i think there are two big elephants in the room here. Fifa is undergoing its own investigation here for corruption. I question how this process occurred, why russia was awarded hosting the games, whether bribery was involved. The second elephant in the room is, russia invaded ukraine. Again . Showcasing russia coup in his as a head. Hes a dangerous man. If you could comment on that, please. Thank you. Marlene on the corruption issue , that is a huge elephant in the room, but russia is not the elephant of the room. I think it is a general debate over the label of corruption. Globally in sports and in fifa. Oil countrybeing an has you being easily corrupt and corrupting because money was easily especially at that time. For me, it is kind of a general discussion. I hope the investigation will go on. Demonstrate that they have evidence that russia and qatar really won because of corruption schemes, then i dont know what would exactly be the process, but i think we can develop on that issue. For me, it is a general issue where russia is one element among many others participating globally in this corruption scheme. On russiaukraine relations, that is something very specific. Argument, and i understand you would be unsatisfied with it, is that it is not through the world cup that we will stop that issue. If we are solving the issue politically, then what else can we do . The west has been failing in securing ukraines security since the beginning of the crisis. It is more about our own general inability to find a solution to secure ukraines integrity. It is a small issue for us. It is a big issue for russia. On that, we have been a little bit naive about the capacity of the west to resist on something where globally, the current context for the west and europe is not the major issue. Russia, the capacity to do whatever it wants almost in ukraine because it is mr. Putin and he has the Popular Support. Russia havingk the cup because of the ukrainian issue doesnt make any political solution and doesnt send any good message because we dont have the political or military or Financial Institutions to help ukraine. It is just that we dont have any kind of good solution. Fifa could be the last element. If we try to focus on that, we are avoiding saying that we dont have the real longterm solution for the country. I understand that doesnt solve anything for the ukrainian people. I dont know how the Ukrainian Team will be playing and so on. That would be a political issue. [inaudible] between the antiwest sentiment putins russia, theres a very real issue. It really is. Again ism the games another feather in his cap. It just emboldens the man. He was given the games way before this issue actually came up. To answer your question about corruption, it is likely. We dont know. It is allegedly option a legit corruption. The issue is that everyone has dirty hands. The only proven case of corruption was england 2018, where they have found cases of payments being made. Most likely, there was corruption involved. Yes, probably. That is how these games are awarded. Lefthe train has sort of because the tournament is set in stone. The same issue can be said about qatar. Im not sure if this world cup is really another feather in ead, because im not sure it is going to be as beneficial for him as he thinks or as the west thinks. It is going to open up the country. It is going to open up dialogue. It is going to show certain elements of russia that are probably not always welcome to the people in power. I think having the world cup there is going to do much more in terms of resolving current problems then taking it away. The moment the west takes it away that is how it will be perceived in russia, the west taking away the world cup. They are going to completely isolate themselves and the situation will probably deteriorate even more. Ive lived in ukraine myself. I get that. But i think taking the world cup away from russia will not solve this issue. People involved in the game in ukraine want to go if they qualify. I think that shows some of the problems. I think that in terms of the bidding process, it was russias time, just like it was brazils time. I think, whether the payments were made or not, they were lined up. The difference is qatar. That is a whole different story. [indiscernible] regardingef comment how germany succeeded is really a trifecta. Investing in youth, developing the youth, and marketing it. It is a clear formula. It was a 1012 year process. The formula exists. Helpin fact is planning to russia that way. Ive been in touch with the medical director of fifa. They will be starting socalled fif 11 that will be taking place throughout russia in the german model. It requires a commitment. Fifa will try to capitalize that process that worked for germany to do it for russia. As you can imagine, as a Soccer Player and physician, russias Health System is completely down. Who will ensure the wellbeing and health of the athletes at this world cup . I know what they did for sochi. Because to hear more, this is across 12 different cities. Ge divided all the medical equipment. They built new clinics. They had helicopters. Expertise ifin the they did not have it locally. Russia, you know in the russian system, it is more complicated than just being kind of collapsing. You have a system in provincial cities that is in bad shape. You also have a private system which is growing. They have more an issue with having good people trained, skilled surgeons and so having that kind of equipment. I think they will advance what they did for sochi. When you cannot modernize the system, you are just creating parallels. A centralized system that is really where the state is putting a lot of money has to make sure it works. They will open new clinics. They will have the right equipment. That will cost a lot of money. That will be very well functioning during the cup. It doesnt mean that once the cup is over, the system will bring a lot of new positive elements for the population, which will continue to go to the public sector. But i think they will manage that well. They will have enough money, and even if there is less money, they will still be able to manage this element of the system. Lori, i assume the teams bring their own doctors to these events. Lori for the u. S. , we have a couple doctors that travel with us. Im pretty sure the majority of the teams will travel with their own doctors. Curious for those people studying russia, what happened to all the equipment . I know ge and the other suppliers left all the equipment , the xray equipment, in sochi. Id like to see if it is being used. Putting a new, ge unit on top of their olympics sponsorship, and the results are that it is saving i forget how many thousands of babies each year. So im hoping that the Imaging Equipment and everything that was left is doing some benefit to the people in the sochi region. Lets suppose worst came to worse. Some countries boycotted the games. Are there any rules in fifa that would cause them to penalize those countries . Lisa no. Any team is allowed to say they dont want to participate. And the other countries will be happy to go. Manuel to be honest, even in ukraine, they are saying, we are going. I have a very high doubt unless some kabbalistic event happens some cataclysmic event happens, i dont think we will see boycotts. Rate embodies this is the symbol army strong. Rate is a big guy but even bigger is his personality, his passion and his heart. He devotes so much time to mentoring Young Leaders not just because the right thing to do but because he loves it. And his soldiers love him back. Ray is just as likely to give you a bear hug as he is to give you a sturdy handshake. He speaks the with the shoulders always forward, his eyes always clear, arguments always sharp. Each one buttressed by an unyielding commitment to his mission and its people. Whether listening intently to a grieving family or looking a foreign leader is the i could deliver the honest truth, or shading Stephen Colbert said in front of soldiers, rate lives his life as his id Division Motto goes, steadfast and loyal. Simply put, in the post9 11 air,