August 19 – St Petersburg is looking beyond FIFA World Cup 2018 and this past weekend hosted a UEFA delegation inspecting candidate cities to be one of the 13 host venues for the Euro 2020 tournament.
Central to the visit was an inspection of the progress being made at the new Zenit Arena under construction at Krestovsky,
Russian media reported that the UEFA delegation was “satisfied” at the progress on the stadium that will first be used for the 2018 World Cup. Among the UEFA delegates were Martin Kalen, the director of Euro 2020, and Claudio Caila-Muller, the head of stadium management.
St Petersburg city officials also outlined plans for a fan zone on St. Isaac’s Square – a similar fan zone will be in operation in 2018.
Vasiliy Kichedzhi, Vice Governor of the city, said that more than 70% of the residents of Russia’s Saint Petersburg support the city’s bid to host the UEFA European Championship in 2020. “The country’s leadership, Russia’s Football Union, the city’s authorities, and over 70%of the resident support hosting this festive event. We should play and wait all together,” said Kichedzhi.
St Petersburg is on the final list of 19 cities that will be slimmed down to the final 13 hosts in September. The city has applied to host a qualification group and quarter final.
It had been a busy weekend for stadia in Russia with the opening of the new 45,000-seat ‘Kazan Arena’ with a match between Rubin Kazan and Locomotive Moscow. Kazan will host the Confederations Cup in 2017 and the World Cup matches in 2018.
“Today we are here to witness a historic moment – the opening of the first 2018 FIFA World Cup venue,” said Vitaliy Mutko, Russia’s Sports Minister. “This is an amazing and truly exceptional stadium, which can already be considered as a jewel and a landmark in the city of Kazan and the whole Republic of Tatarstan.”
“I want to congratulate all the fans with this tremendous new stadium,” said Rustam Minnikhanov, the head of the Republic of Tatarstan. “Kazan is deservedly considered as Russia’s capital of sports.
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