One of those who will be cheering England on, on Wednesday night is former Bury vicar Reverend Malcolm Rogers.

Mr Rogers, formerly the vicar of St Mary with St Peters Church in Bury St Edmunds, has been lucky enough to secure him and his family tickets to see England take on Croatia in their new home of Moscow.

After relocating to the Russian capital last summer with his wife Alison and their youngest son Mr Rogers now works as the chaplain of St Andrew’s Anglican Church.

Having lived in the Russian capital for nearly a year the family were able to apply for residents tickets to watch games at this year’s World Cup.

“It was really amazing,” said Mr Rogers, “we put in for residents tickets and the first time we didn’t get anything.”

On the second time around they had much better luck securing tickets for England’s game against Colombia as well as tickets for one of the semi-final matches.

“I was absolutely astonished,” said Mr Rogers describing their luck as “divine intervention.”

Mr Rogers enjoyed the Colombia game and likened the feeling there to “a carnival party atmosphere” right up until the start of the game.

“It was a real privilege,” he added.

From then on, according to Mr Rogers, England fans were outnumbered in the crowd by their Colombian counterparts.

“It must have been so intimidating for the England players,” said Mr Rogers, “They were definitely playing away at that point.”

For the quarter finals the family gathered with other British ex-pats in Moscow.

The result wasn’t quite what Mr Rogers was hoping for but he is still looking forward to the semi-final which he will be watching with wife Alison and eldest son Peter, who has made the trip over for the match.

“I would have loved to see a Russia- England semi-final but it would have been a bit difficult.”

Mr Rogers said the atmosphere in Moscow had been fantastic during the championships.

“It’s been lovely. The first three weeks were amazing when we had people from all around the world.”

As for the final itself, despite not having tickets Mr Rogers said he already had big plans: “As a church we have decided we are going to have a big party for the final.

“We are making assumptions.”