Exclusive: Russia 2018 could centre around 12 host cities, says Sorokin

By David Gold

July 5 – Russia 2018 chief executive Alexey Sorokin has not ruled out having as many as 12 cities staging matches during the World Cup in six years’ time.

It has long been thought that there would be 11 host cities, with Moscow having at least two stadiums playing a role in the event.

However, since the conclusion of the tour of prospective host cities last month with FIFA, the Russia 2018 chief (pictured below) has indicated otherwise.

Speaking to insideworldfootball, Sorokin said, when asked whether the plan was still to have two stadiums in Moscow: “We do not know, again everything is having to do with serious decisions – it is FIFA’s prerogative.

“There are various combinations,” he said, adding “additional stadiums in Moscow would mean cutting off a whole host city we have to understand that.”

Questioned on whether that meant there would be 12 host cities and just one stadium used in Moscow, Sorokin said “anything is possible”.

However many stadiums Moscow has, what does seem certain is that the Luzhniki (pictured top) will host both a semi-final and the final of the tournament, as the only venue to meet the capacity requirements for staging the World Cup final.

Russia originally wanted to use 13 cities, but FIFA do not like to use more than 12 for the World Cup.

The other cities in the running to host games during the 2018 event are Kaliningrad, St Petersburg, Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Saransk, Samara, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl.

The decision on the host cities will be made by FIFA at the end of September.

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