In 2018 Russia hosts the Football World Cup. The chairman of the organization committee Russia-2018, the minister of sport, tourism and youth policy, Vitaly Mutko, told journalists about preparation to this event.
The World Cup is not only sporting, but a major social event. It should bring not only construction of infrastructural facilities, which would be built in various cities of the country. We want, just like our colleagues from Germany and the SAR, use it for presentation of new Russia to the world. After making a decision on holding the Cup the government has made all necessary additional decisions. We started the work immediately, as it seems that we have a whale of time, but time runs fast, and we see difficulties that appear in countries, which hold major events. That is why we began active work in the first year.
The concept of the World Cup is simple: we want to conduct it in the format of four clusters. 13 cities and 15 future stadiums are involved in it. Together with FIFA we made a conclusion that minimal number is 11 cities and 12 stadiums. Four clusters are – Southern: Sochi, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don; Volzhsky: Volgograd, Saransk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod; North-Western: Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg; Central: Moscow; and Yekaterinburg. These are cities included into the application. In three months we will decide what cities will stay. The opening and closing matches will be held in Moscow at Luzhniki Stadium. The stadium should have 80,000 seats, and in the end of this month the concept of Luzhniki’s reconstruction will be finished. We don’t discuss any other place, as it is our favorite stadium with a great history. Semi-final will be held in St.-Petersburg, this stadium should have no less than 60,000 seats. In St.-Petersburg construction began, but it is postponed due to new requirements. At the moment an expertise is taking place, and in late April we will announce a complete decision about terms of the construction.
A series of serious events will precede the Championship. First of all, it will be a test tournament The Confederation Cup in 2017. Moscow, St.-Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan will host it. The winners of our Confederation championships and the national team of Russia will participate in it. In 2015 a preliminary drawing procedure will be held in St.-Petersburg in the Mariinsky Theatre, and in 2017 the last drawing procedure will take place in Moscow. In 2018 FIFA congress will be conducted.
