That is totally right about the passports, a real stupid waste of paper and bureaucracy. No good doing it all before you arrive, because they have to do it themselves (I was trying to save time at check in). Also, the people I was staying with in Samara had to do it when going through the whole registration process. You`ve got to complete that registration process within 7 days.
Were any of you at the finale yesterday? That was a pretty exciting match.