Difficult to know what’s more peculiar: Russia’s World Cup record or this Rasputin henchman.
He might look like he’s going to eat you in order to survive another winter during the Battle of Stalingrad, but Dane, Johan Karpantschof, whose grandfather on his paternal side is Russian, is in fact our layout editor.
Logically therefore, you would have thought he’d be the ideal candidate to compile our wallchart. Realistically though, when Johan isn’t supporting Russia at major football tournaments his homeland has failed to qualify for, there’s nothing he likes worse than talking about football.
For a big country, Russia are pretty hopeless on the world stage. Between 1998 and 2006, they failed to qualify. But money has been pouring into the domestic game of late and their fortunes have seen a revival.
We stressed peculiar not poor, so here are a couple of stats to chew over.
Russia are the only team to produce a Golden Boot winner while bowing out in the group stage: Oleg Salenko with six goals in 1994.
Since 1990, they’ve lost six of their nine games, but their goal difference is positive.
They lose a lot, but when they win, they win big.
As part of our World Cup coverage this year, our international staff decided it would be fun to dress up in our national shirts for the Copenhagen Post Wallchart, which hit the streets on June 12.
Partly that, and to rub it in the faces of our Danish colleagues that they haven't qualified this time around.
Taking a leaf out of the Jack Charlton guide to national coaching, we sourced a few errant grandfathers and even found room for Scotland.
And just in case you want to 'go local' to watch a game, check out our guide to the best bars in town for finding authentic nationalistic fervour.
