By Andrew Warshaw
June 20 – With three months to go until the Russian cities bidding to host the 2018 World Cup learn their fate, a FIFA inspection delegation has moved on to Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, two of the lesser-known prospective venues.
Kazan, hosts of next year’s Universiade and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, is hoping to stage matches in both the group and knockout stages as well as the 2017 Confederations Cup.
After flying into Tatarstan, the FIFA team were hosted by the Republic’s President, Rustam Minnikhanov, who stressed Kazan had just as much to offer as the country’s more established venues.
“For us, it’s important that Kazan, alongside Russia’s largest cities, should be in the running to host matches at the FIFA World Cup, given that once we have hosted the Universiade in 2013 we will have all the necessary infrastructure,” Minnikhanov said
Kazan’s Millennium Square, where the fan zone would take place, will be able to accommodate up to 100,000 supporters using over-ground transport, metro or high-speed train linking the city centre with Kazan’s airport, which authorities hope will be able to handle up to 2,400 passengers per hour.
Kazan’s new 45,000-seat stadium is preparing to host its first international sports event some time next year.
The stadium will be the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2013 Universiade, and soon after the World Student Games are over, it will become home to one of the country’s leading clubs, Rubin Kazan.
Alexey Sorokin (pictured below, third right), Russia 2018’s chief executive, said his team would be taking stock of previous tournaments though not surprisingly he stayed clear of mentioning the joint threats of racism and fan violence that have been highlighted in western news reports but which 2018 organisers have been at pains to play down.
“We will be preparing for every match extremely carefully, taking our country’s specific national characteristics into account,” Sorokin said.
“We will definitely be taking note of the experience of organising previous World Cups and European Championships, as well as our own domestic championship.
“The 2018 World Cup will have top-level security.”
The decision on host cities will be made in September and after Kazan, the joint delegation of Russia 2018 officials and FIFA experts headed off to Nizhny Novgorod, with Saransk, Samara and Volgograd still to come.
Nizhny Novgorod authorities are keen for their stadium, due to be completed in 2016, to stage more than 100 events a year rather than end up as a white elephant.
“We are counting on this being a multipurpose stadium,” one of the area’s deputy governors, Dmitry Svatkovsky, said.
“That will allow it virtually to break even.”
Nizhny Novgorod’s Governor, Valery Shantsev, added: “The World Cup is a big responsibility.
“And what we will need to do is not just build a modern, 45,000-seat stadium, but also modernise our infrastructure substantially – and that means the transport system, the hotels, the airports and much much more.”
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