Cities to host 2018 world football championship to be identified before September, says Mutko

A list of Russian cities hosting the 2018 world football championship will be finalised before September, Russian minister of sport, tourism and youth policy, and Russia-2018 organising committee chairman, Vitaly Mutko, said at the Russia-2018’s first news conference in Moscow.

The preliminary list includes Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Kazan and others.

The 2018 football championship’s concept envisages holding the event in four clusters. “As of the moment we have 13 candidate cities and 15 tentative stadiums. Together with FIFA we have come to the conclusion that the necessary minimum is 11 cities and 12 stadiums. Of course, it does not mean we will leave the other regions unattended but building a stadium for one match makes no sense,” the minister stated.

A final decision on which cities and venues will remain will be made in September, after FIFA representatives have made inspection visits. The opening and final matches will definitely be held in Moscow, at Luzhniki.

“We will before the 2018 FC conduct some tests, including a Confederation Cup. Its hosts will be four cities, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan,” Mutko noted.

Russia-2018 organising committee general director Alexei Sorokin named five criteria and 31 sub-criteria for selecting cities, and told about his strategic vision of the upcoming event. The main criteria are availability of an infrastructure, socio-economic development, investment programme of preparing for the 2018 FC, concept of holding the FC and efficient use of the FC’s heritage.

The global event should be held honestly to goodness, to display the Russian hospitality. Russians want the global championship’s potential to be used to improve the nation’s health, fulfil the regions’s potential and demonstrate that the previous stereotypes are no longer valid and that our country is a good partner, he enhanced.