Inside Russia’s ‘hooligan factories’ where thugs batter each other in woodland training camps before taking on the likes of Arsenal and England fans

RUSSIA'S football thugs are training in "hooligan factories" to guarantee they come out on top when they come face-to-face with England fans.

Yobs from across Vladimir Putin's land have ditched the booze to ensure they are fighting fit when the nation hosts the World Cup.

The ruthless reputation of Russia's merciless yobs has already led to thousands of England fans deciding to boycott the tournament.

Only about 10,000 will be travelling to St Petersburg -  around half the number who went to Brazil in 2014.

The news comes after a leading security academic said he feared Three Lions fans could die this summer.

Professor Anthony Glees says England supporters face being killed by hooligans over the current spy row.

And after the Sun Online told how Russian yobs had met up with Argentinian hooligans to plot bloody attacks on our fans.

While crowd trouble still breaks out at Russian league matches intense policing and CCTV cameras has forced the most yobs “into the woods”.

The bulk of hooligan clashes now take place in remote forests and on fields, where groups from rival clubs go toe-to-toe in brutal brawls.

These bizarre last man standing "auditions" are now being used to pick the "best of the best" ahead of this summer's tournament.

The unwritten rules are few: no weapons, stop when commanded by a referee and stamping on heads is strictly frowned upon.

Potential recruits are invited to trial bouts, starting with seven-on-seven affairs, and then graduating to 15 a side, or 20. Elite fights can involve 80-on-80 brawls.

Injuries are expected with concussions, broken legs, cracked jaws and fractured skulls all commonplace.

“If they haven’t yelled, ‘Stop’ you can continue,” said Alex, a member of RB Warriors, a well-known group that supports CSKA Moscow.

“You need to beat them so that a person won’t stand up again. Because if they stand up, it means they can attack you from behind, he revealed.

"I will never in my life will jump on someone’s head. Only those who are not strong do that.”

That will comes as little comfort to the Arsenal fans whose side had drawn CSKA  in the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Those that don't fancy the proving grounds of the forest showing off their brawling abilities in the many MMA gyms scattered across Putin's land.

Thai boxing and other mixed martial arts are now hugely popular in Russia.

It was something that didn't go unnoticed on the streets of Marseilles during the European Championships in 2016.

Battered England fans told how they were cornered by Russian thugs sporting gum shields and wearing MMA gloves.

The gloves were to protect the knuckles not the victims they were pounding.

Some Russian hooligans even used their fighting skills to compete in the controversial Team Fighting Championship (TFC).

The TFC is brutal "sport" barred in many countries where rival yobs take part in five-on-five clash in a boxing ring.

The fighters are lauded as heroes on hooligan websites and clips of the brawls and interviews with the organisers are shown on HooliganTV.com

Those that want to see the full bloody fights - filmed in a warehouse in Latvia - have to pay up.

For many yobs, hooliganism has become a bizarre and brutal pastime.

“It became more like a type of sport,” said Ivan Sergeev, 37, a well-known former member of a top Moscow firm 'Union' whose nickname is Il Duce.

And even Putin's politicians take particular pride in their hooligans bully boy tactics.

“Our fans are fighters, not hooligans,” said politician, Igor Lebedev, a member of Russia’s national soccer association, wrote on his website.

“We can turn fans’ fights into a sport! Introduce rules, team competitions”.

The World Cup starts on Thursday, June 14 in Moscow when Russian will play Saudi Arabia. The final will be played on Sunday, July 15.