Enjoy the World Cup’s carnival atmosphere while it lasts: the next two tournaments will be held under joyless, autocratic, homophobic governments.

A prominent Russian Orthodox priest has kicked off the hate well ahead of the 2018 cup in Russia by calling the multi-colored cleats worn by the players have turned the World Cup into a “homosexual abomination.”

His extraordinary remarks follow the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay propaganda law, which bans promoting homosexuality to those under age 18. The legislation contributed to the oppressive and violent environment for gay Russians and led to widespread calls for the Winter Olympics in Sochi to be boycotted earlier this year. The World Cup in Russia will be followed by a tournament in Qatar in 2022 where homosexuality is illegal.

While the rest of Russia was mourning a dismal performance in Brazil, one Orthodox priest said he was pleased that the team had gone home early. Alexander Shumsky criticized the Russian players for embracing the latest sporting fashion of wearing multi-colored boots.

The motivation for Nike and Addidas to dazzle the audience with ever brighter designs is probably motivated by a desire to grab our attention rather than influence our sexual desires, but Shumsky insisted that the green, yellow, pink, and blue shoes were promoting the "gay rainbow.”

“Wearing pink or blue shoes, [the players] might as well wear women’s panties or a bra,” he wrote in his column on a Christian website which was translated by the Moscow Times. He said he was also offended by the “unthinkable” hairstyles of some of the players in Brazil.

“The liberal ideology of globalism clearly wants to oppose Christianity with football. I’m sure of it. Therefore I am glad that the Russian players have failed and, by the grace of God, no longer participate in this homosexual abomination,” he explained.

The Russian team performed dreadfully in Brazil, failing to win a single match and being eliminated at the group stage, despite hiring the most expensive coach at the World Cup. Fabio Capello, who previously managed England, has been summoned to the Russian Duma to explain what went wrong in Brazil and to convince the doubters that he should remain in charge until 2018 when the Kremlin will expect a strong performance to justify Russia’s massive investment in hosting the tournament.