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Чтобы вам было удобнее использовать Facebook, обновите браузер. They are the underground fighters the World Cup host doesn’t want you to see. This story will appear in ESPN Russian fight club e 60 Magazine’s June 18 World Football issue.

Over nearly four decades on earth, while living in half a dozen cities and two countries, whether employed or not, happy or not, sober or not, I have never — not ever — punched someone. Of course Vova has punched someone. Vova lives in Moscow, on the edge of Russia’s capital. He says he has been punching people for years, says he loves punching people, says it is part of his identity.

He thinks I am an alien, basically, and that a man without scars on his hands is no man at all. By any measure, Vova has a comfortable life. His mother is a flight attendant, and so his room in the family’s apartment has pictures and posters from the places he has traveled. He is studying to be a graphic designer, and he loves surfing. Vova enjoys literature, particularly the writings of famed German novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Yet in the evenings or on weekends, Vova says, he goes to the forest. He says he is part of a group of hooligans known as IX Legion, which supports a professional soccer team, Dinamo Moscow, and which fights against other groups supporting other teams.

To Vova, the idea of not punching people makes no sense, even though he knows that the Russian authorities are desperate for the upcoming World Cup to be safe and peaceful. So,” I say to Vova one evening in the center of the city, “what are you like when you’re in a fight? Vova is smart and earnest, with a fresh face, thin eyes and a soft nose. His waist is tiny and his legs are spindly, giving him the bony look of a high school cross-country runner. In a fight, everything is different,” he says. It requires anger, some kind of rage or something like that. It is hard to see rage from Vova, with his soft voice and innocent giggle and nervous tic in which his shoulder shakes as he thinks about a difficult question.

It is hard to see rage at all. But to Vova, the rage is as much a part of him as the poetry or the textbooks in his backpack. The woods, he says, is where he lets the rage out, where he immerses himself in something that “strengthens the mind. How could this possibly strengthen your mind? Well, because when you see people coming at you,” he says, “not just one or two people, and you know they are about to kick you in the face and it’ll be painful, you don’t run away. In a fight, everything is different,” says Vova, who fights with a group of hooligans known as IX Legion.

Much of that last worry stems from what happened in France two years ago. During the European soccer championship, Russia and England met in a game in Marseille. The attacks continued in the stands at the game, leading to the Russian federation being punished by tournament organizers, while the Russian fans were, in some cases, arrested or deported. Videos of the carnage went viral, and within days, World Cup officials and Russian authorities hastily began a campaign to assure everyone that nothing like this could ever happen again. Russia must “ensure maximum security for players and fans,” President Vladimir Putin said in a speech to Russian police this winter, before telling the officers that “the way this event goes and our country’s image will directly depend on your smooth, skillful work.

Here is the thing, though: That work isn’t just about metal detectors and checkpoints once the games begin. While part of the concern from Russian authorities has to do with the country’s global reputation, much of it also has to do with the inherent unpredictability of hooligans and their whims. Will there be trouble during the World Cup? Russian officials have repeatedly said they don’t expect any issues. But no one can say for sure, including the hooligans themselves. It won’t happen in Russia because our police services work a lot better” than in France, says Vlad, who is a friend of Vova’s and also a member of the Legion. Vlad seems fairly certain about this too.

Except then Vlad reconsiders and says, “Maybe some small conflicts will occur. Vlad’s opinion is common among hooligans. Like Vova, he doesn’t want his full name revealed because “there is a lot of tension right now” surrounding hooligans and the police, and Vlad says the crackdown from the authorities over the past year has been considerable. Friends have been detained and questioned. Some hooligan brothers have had their apartments searched. It has made it much more difficult to stage the big fights hooligans crave.

So when you come home with a black eye or something like that,” I ask Vlad, “what do you tell your family about how it happened? I am trying to imagine the sorts of stories Vlad must concoct, since his face has the pockmarks of roasted turkey skin. Turns out, this isn’t much of a problem. No one really pays attention to it,” Vlad says, explaining that in Russia, boys are generally expected to fight. So a boy got into a fight — no big deal.