October 22 – FIFA inspectors say they are happy with Russia’s early preparations for the 2018 World Cup – in contrast to the concerns over delays that enveloped Brazil ahead of last summer’s tournament.
FIFA officials have just conducted a five-day visit and gave a strong thumbs-up, music to the ears of Russian organisers who have suffered considerable adverse publicity over the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
Chris Unger, who led the inspection team, said Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, which will host the final in 2018, seemed to be ahead of schedule and defended FIFA’s decision to visit three completed stadiums but not to seven which have barely started construction in Russian provincial cities.
“It’s not something that we walk away saying: ‘Oh, we’ve seen the plans, now we’re satisfied,'” he was quoted as saying. “It’s a process. We come back, we see what progress has been made, see if the plans are accurate, we validate.”
“It’s our first visit to Russia, and we’re happy with the results for the moment,” Unger added. “But we would like to see positive changes in our every new visit here.”
The commission also visited Spartak Moscow’s 42,000-seat Otkrytie arena, which went into service in September and the Fisht Arena at Sochi, the main venue of 2014 Winter Olympics.
“Fisht arena, which has already hosted the major sporting event — Winter Olympics, is unique in its own way, like any other stadium in Russia that we’ve already visited,” Unger said. “But the stadium needs some adaptation for hosting the World Cup.”
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