Moscow, Russia - 16 May 2018

1. Various of clock with countdown to World Cup near Red Square in central Moscow

FILE: Tula, Russia - 1 December 2017

2. Various of Spartak FC (Moscow) fans cheering and lighting flares at a match

Moscow, Russia - 19 May 2018

3. Wide of craft beer festival venue, poster reading (English) "Big Craft Day Moscow"

4. Football fan, who requested not to be identified, walking at beer festival venue

5. SOUNDBITE (Russian) name withheld (spoke on condition of anonymity), veteran football hooligan:

"The World Cup is bad. Because of it we have big problems, a lot of people under investigation — a lot of problems. So it's not very good for us, it's not a festival of football. So me personally, I definitely won't go to any Russian national team games because, if, God forbid, someone does something, I will be the first to be suspected of doing it."

FILE: Marseille, France - 11 June 2016

6. Various of Russian and English fans clashing at Euro 2016 in France

Moscow, Russia - 19 May 2018

7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) name withheld (spoke on condition of anonymity), veteran football hooligan:

"Russia reached its peak at that moment. From 2000 to 2010 we had a good growth, a lot of people were involved in it. And when everybody found out that we're playing with the English it was just… I have only been to one match, I came there only for that (to fight) and left the next day. It was important. It was a game for boys where you must prove who's stronger. There's never any bad intentions."

Moscow, Russia - 22 May 2018

8. Various of Rostokino district in Moscow where hooligan groups' forest fights have been known to happen

9. Establishing shot of Vladimir Kozlov, filmmaker and author of books on Russian football fans

10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir Kozlov, filmmaker and writer:

"I'd say that today in Russia there are several thousand football hooligans, dispersed all over the country in the movements of various teams."

11. Cutaway of Kozlov

12. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vladimir Kozlov, filmmaker and writer:

"There's been no growth for a while now. The number (of hooligans) has been stable. There was growth when it was very fashionable at the end of the 90s to the beginning of the 2000s."

Moscow, Russia - 5 May 2018

13. Various of football fans and security measures before a football match, police on horseback

Moscow, Russia - 21 May 2018

14. Alexander Shprygin, Dinamo FC (Moscow) fan sitting at table

15. Dinamo FC emblem on flag

16. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexander Shprygin, Dinamo FC fan:

"First of all, the FSB (Federal Security Services, former KGB) has started working on the football fans actively which has never happened before. Secondly they've switched on all of the legal mechanisms and if before when you violated a rule at a stadium you could leave the stadium and forget about it, now even the slightest violation isn't left unnoticed."

17. Cutaway of Shprygin

18. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexander Shprygin, Dinamo FC fan:

"It's the main event of my life I've been dreaming of all my life and waited for. And of course every football fan dreams of being at Luzhniki stadium to see the opening match with the Russian national team. And I not only won't be able to attend the opening match, I won't be able to attend any match of the World Cup at all. Of course it's annoying."

19. Various of legal advice call centre for football fans

20. Various of Oleg Semyonov, head of the legal advice centre

21. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Oleg Semyonov, head of legal advice hotline for football fans:

"I rather expect some incidents between the Serbian and the Croatians, between Poland and Germany and even between Saudi Arabia and Iran because one side are Shia and others are Sunni and under certain circumstances there might be misunderstandings between them. As for us, all of these football fans are our guests."

Moscow, Russia - 16 May 2018

22. Various of FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 sign on a building

Ahead of the World Cup, Russian authorities are cracking down on the hooligan culture in football.

Groups which wreaked havoc two years ago report surveillance and threats from law enforcement.

Leading hooligans from each club face lengthy prison sentences on old or trumped-up charges if there's trouble at the World Cup, even if they aren't personally involved, a Moscow veteran hooligan told The Associated Press.

He likened their situation to that of "hostages" and said the hooligan scene in Russia "is finished."

"I definitely won't go to any Russian national team games because, if, God forbid, someone does something, I will be the first to be suspected of doing it," he said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to describe numerous illegal acts, he said he had flown to Marseille in 2016 specifically to take part in fights with the English fans on the streets and in the stadium at the European Championship.

England's hooligans of the 1980s and 1990s inspired many Russian groups - most still bear English names - but in Marseille the Russians wanted to snuff out that reputation.

"It was a game for boys where you must prove who's stronger. There's never any bad intentions," he said.

Alexander Shprygin ran a fan group which worked with the government on World Cup planning, and had been photographed with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he has rapidly fallen from grace.

Shprygin was twice deported from France during the 2016 tournament and two of his organisation's board members were imprisoned in Marseille over the disorder.

He denies any role.

Three months later, Russian police arrested him in a toilet at a conference held by the national football federation, seeking to question him over an earlier brawl in Russia, and dragged him out past waiting media.

His organisation has been dormant since then.

Shprygin told the AP his friends in the hardcore fan scene have been summoned by Russia's Federal Security Service, the heir to the Soviet-era KGB, for "preventative conversations" and many want to go abroad during the World Cup.

World Cup tickets are worthless without a Russian government-issue "Fan ID".

Applicants are vetted by the Russian security services, who have denied several thousand Russian fans ID to see games at the World Cup and last year's Confederations Cup, according to Oleg Semyonov, formerly a leader of the Spartak Moscow fan scene, who now runs a legal advice hotline for supporters.

Semyonov says authorities are using "a big database" which has barred people accused of taking part in football-related disorder _ including Shprygin, whose ID was cancelled two hours before a Confederations Cup game _ but also some with convictions dating back 20 years for minor offences like jaywalking or public drunkenness.

Most top Russian clubs now have so-called "curators" from the security services "who work with the fan organisations" and have warned them off disorder, Semyonov added.

Amid the crackdown, the Russian fan scene is increasingly split.

So-called "ultras" focus on coordinated chants, lighting flares and staging elaborate displays at games, but can defend themselves if needed.

The hardcore fighters mostly stick to pre-arranged brawls in forests because of tight stadium surveillance.

Some fighters are drifting away from football and turning to organised mixed martial arts events which offer a chance to make money from their hobby.

The Moscow hooligan also lamented the end of hooliganism's golden era, when battles between rival clubs in Moscow came down to tactics as much as strength.

Hooliganism offers a brotherhood, even for those like the Moscow hooligan, who has a university education and a traditionally middle-class job.

A world dominated by football's brawlers would have a simple, honourable way to solve disputes, he argued.

"It always goes by the rule of the fist. If you're stronger, you're right," he said. "If there were more people like that, maybe people wouldn't be building missiles."