Russia handed $700 million purse to run 2018 World Cup

By David Gold

April 11 – FIFA has handed a budget of almost $700 million (£440 million/€534 million) to Russia 2018, it was announced at a meeting of the World Cup Organising Committee’s Management Board.

Russia has to fund the construction of all the stadiums and related infrastructure, and is expected to spend 300 billion rubles (£6.4 billion/$10.1 billion/€7.7 billion) in the coming years.

The amount will also cover all the operational costs of hosting the tournament, which includes travel, media facilities, stewarding and decorating the stadiums.

“FIFA has provided $699 million (£440 million/€533 million), that’s including the year 2018,” revealed Vitaly Mutko (pictured top), Russia’s Minister of Sport, who is also a member of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee.

He claimed it was a similar amount to the sum afforded to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.

The Board also discussed and approved a budget and work plan for 2012, with the main issue being the selection of host cities and stadiums.

FIFA and Russia 2018 delegates have begun a tour around the prospective host locations; it will continue over the coming months and culminate in a final decision in September, a year earlier than scheduled.

Following that decision, Russia 2018 will draw up a plan for the construction and renovation of stadiums in December.

Russia 2018 has also set up Arena-2018, a body designed to monitor and track the design and construction of stadiums for the tournament.

Each of the 12 grounds being used for the World Cup, will either be built from scratch or renovated, and the idea for establishing the body was taken from Brazil, the 2014 hosts.

Brazil has been beset by problems preparing for its tournament, and more than 50 per cent of construction or renovation works has been carried out at fewer than half of its stadiums.

“We took a very close look at preparations for the 2014 tournament in Brazil, where they set up a similar organisation to monitor stadium construction deadlines,” said Mutko (pictured above, with Russia 2018 chief Alexei Sorokin).

“We invited experts from Brazil’s Arena over to the Russia 2018 LOC, and they outlined what this organisation could do.

“Drawing on their own example, they convinced us of the need to set up the same sort of structure as we prepare for Russia 2018.”

It has been estimated that Russia’s hosting of the World Cup will lead to the creation of more than 700,000 jobs in the run up to 2018, according to figures seen by insideworldfootball.

Additional investments are also estimated to increase the gross domestic product in Russia by 527 billion rubles (£11.2 billion/$17.8 billion/€13.6 billion) by 2018.

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