Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup bid

Russia announced its intent to bid for the FIFA World Cup in early 2009, and submitted its request to FIFA in time.[1] Russia's President Vladimir Putin has taken a keen interest in the bid and has gone so far as ordering Vitaly Mutko, the Minister of Sports, to "prepare a bid for Russia to hold the 2018 World Cup". According to a report earlier submitted by Vitaly Mutko, who also served that time as President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), the country is ready to spend some $10 billion on the tournament.[2] The bid committee also includes RFU CEO Alexey Sorokin and Alexander Djordjadze as the Director of Bid Planning and Operations.[3] In October 2010, Russia formally pulled out of the race to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On December 2, 2010 Russia was chosen as the host country for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[4][5]

Main article: 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids
Russia's 2018–2022 World Cup bid logo
Russian bid personnel celebrate the awarding to Russia the 2018 World Cup.

Fourteen cities are included in the current proposal, which divides them into 6 different clusters: one in the north, centered on St. Petersburg, a central cluster, centered on Moscow, a southern cluster, centered on Sochi, and the Volga River cluster. Only one city beyond the Ural Mountains is cited, Yekaterinburg. The other cities are: Kaliningrad in the north cluster, Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar in the south cluster and Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Saransk, Samara and Volgograd in the Volga River cluster.[6] The country does not currently have a stadium with 80,000 capacity, but the bid calls for the expansion of Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, already a UEFA Elite stadium with a capacity of slightly over 78,000, to over 89,000 seats. Russia hopes to have five stadiums fit to host World Cup matches ready by 2013 — two in Moscow and one stadium each in St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics.[7]

In October 2011, Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. Construction of a proposed stadium in the Moscow region, Podolsk, was cancelled by the regional government, and Spartak Stadium is competing with Dinamo Stadium which will have been constructed first.[8]

Schedule
Date Notes
15 January 2009Applications formally invited
2 February 2009Closing date for registering intention to bid
16 March 2009Deadline to submit completed bid registration forms
14 May 2010Deadline for submission of full details of bid
16—19 August 2010Inspection committee visits Russia[9]
2 December 2010FIFA appoint Russia as host for 2018 World Cup

Venues
Proposed venues
Kaliningrad St. Petersburg Moscow Moscow Ramenskoe
Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Gazprom Arena Luzhniki Stadium Spartak Stadium
 Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 45,015 Capacity: 69,501 Capacity: 81,318 Capacity: 46,990 Capacity: 44,250
Kazan Nizhny Novgorod Yaroslavl Samara Yekaterinburg
Rubin Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium
Capacity: 45,015 Capacity: 44,899 Capacity: 44,042 Capacity: 44,918 Capacity: 44,130
Volgograd Saransk Krasnodar Rostov-on-Don Sochi
Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Proposed FIFA World Cup Stadium Fisht Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 45,015 Capacity: 45,015 Capacity: 50,015 Capacity: 43,702 Capacity: 47,659

Official Bid Partners
  • Art and Sport foundation
  • IFD Kapital Group of Companies
  • BDO Russia
  • Russian Law Firm Yust

References
  1. "Russia enters race to host 2018". BBC Sport. 20 January 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  2. "Putin orders sports minister to prepare bid for 2018 World Cup". RIA Novosti. London. 5 May 2009.
  3. "Bid committee". Russia 2018-2022 Bid. October 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  4. "Russia and Qatar win World Cup race". ESPN Soccernet. 2010-12-02. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  5. "Russia & Qatar will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups". BBC Sport. 2010-12-02. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  6. "Host cities". Russia 2018-2022 Bid. October 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  7. "Russia ready to spend $10 bln on World Cup 2018 preparations". April 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  8. "Почему у России осталось только 14 стадионов к ЧМ-2018 - Известия (Why are there only 14 stadiums for the Russia 2018 World Cup)" (in Russian). Izvestia.ru. October 7, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  9. "FIFA receives bidding documents for 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups" (Press release). FIFA.com. 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
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