A Fascinating Glimpse at Russia's Amateur Football Pitches

An ancient church stands guard over a football pitch by the shores of Lake Valdai in the Novgorod region, where team Yupiter takes on the competition.



Photographer Sergei Novikov, 35, has spent the past three years traveling around central and? western Russia to? photograph amateur football teams and? their stadiums for his latest project, Grassroots.



From? the grass-shy pitches in? the north to? fields in? central Russia surrounded by? churches, the project offers a glimpse into? life in? the Russian regions.



On? his journey, Novikov has been asked to? take to? the pitch himself after a? player fell ill and? has visited matches in? top secret closed cities in? the Far North.



To read more about the Grassroots project, see Documenting Amateur Russian Football: From Cows to Closed Cities.



To help support the Grassroots project, you can purchase the author's previous book FC Volga United. Visit Sergey Novikov Photography for more information.

The pitch in Polyarny, a closed town in the Murmansk region, has been in use since the Great Patriotic War and is now played on by a team called Ford.

A keeper stands in goal in the northern town of Kirovsk in the Murmansk region, where a football club called Apatit play their home matches.

The team of Troitsk play their matches in Moscow.

The grass doesn't even grow on this pitch in the far northern town of Snezhnogorsk, where the team Apatit play their home matches.

Photographer Sergey Novikov takes a photo at a match between FC Semyonov and FC Spartak Tumbotino in the Nizhny Novgorod region. FC Tumbotino ran out 3-1 winners over the home side.