Christian Unger, FIFA, "Kazan Arena is a gorgeous stadium." Part 5

Kazan has become the second city inspected in Russia. Ildar Khalikov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, met the members of the Commission at the Stadium. During the welcome meeting he explained why Kazan Arena Stadium is one of the key sports venues in Tatarstan. Vladimir Leonov, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan, represented Kazan as the sport capital of Russia and future Host-City of 2018 World Cup.

According to Director General of the Russia 2018 Organising Committee Alexey Sorokin, representatives of FIFA and the Russia 2018 Organising Committee were satisfied with the Kazan Arena Stadium. He noted that the aim of the visit was to check planning solutions and the zoning system around venues, and optimise the client groups' flows in order to prevent their intersection. "Everything must be effective as much as possible to avoid unpleasant surprises," said Sorokin.

According to him the visitors inspected both the stadium and surrounding territories. "As you know, the World Cup requires large area: the Village with Hospitality Area and tents of our partners will surround the stadium. We expect to use the stadium and the surrounding territory to the fullest extend," said the Head of the Russia 2018 Organising Committee.

Vladimir Leonov, in turn, said that he hopes to "put the stadium on full alert" in the short run in order to be ready for the World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup, with the latter taking place a year earlier – in 2017. "We are currently at the stage of formulating functional areas, transportation plan. We also work a lot with fans. Thanks to staging major sport events in Kazan we have a sufficiently professional team of managers and specialists ready to respond to challenges set by FIFA and the Organising Committee," said the Minister.

Christian Unger, Head of Department for Coordination and Preparation for the FIFA World Cup, also noted positive responds from the visitors. "After the inspection I think that it is a gorgeous stadium. It is also important that it is already being used for a couple of months, so we do not need to use our imagination while reviewing the drawings. We understand its operation during the competition," emphasized the FIFA representative saying that the Kazan Area Stadium is a unique venue that meets the requirements of the local football club.

It must be recalled that local delegation includes 40 experts from FIFA, the Organising Committee and Arena-2018 in the fields of stadium design and construction, preparation and staging of competitions, security, transportation, logistics, hospitality services, TV broadcasting, media services, medical services, staffing, marketing and ticketing program realisation.