By Paul Nicholson
December 3 – Questionmarks over whether the 2018 World Cup hosting would make it to Kaliningrad have been dispelled by Russia’s sports minister Vitaly Mutko who said that matches won’t be transferred to another city from Kaliningrad.
In November Mutko had said it was possible Kaliningrad could be pulled from the hosting list, but after Russian president Vladimir Putin stepped in saying that plans for the city needed to be completed by December 17, it seems World Cup in 2018 will not drop to 10 cities from the planned 11.
And if help is needed to realise the project, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, after a meeting with the governor of the Kalingrad region, said his country is on hand to aid with preparations.
Mutko said that the current issue is deciding on the location for the stadium construction.
Alexander Zhukov, a vice-president in the Duma, said that Oktiabrskij Island in Kaliningrad is the optimal place to build the stadium. He said that from the experience of Sochi Olympic Games, it is important to build sports projects with a long term function, hence it is important to get the location choice right for Kaliningrad.
Zhukov believes that the development in the city will leave a serious legacy, and that while building on Oktiabrskij Island will cost more, it would bring less disruption for residents than building on the old arena in the city.
Belarus president Lukashenko offered support, saying: “We don’t mind being present in the construction sphere (in the region), especially in light of the 2018 World Cup, when the Kaliningrad region is getting ready to prepare for it…Most recently, we hosted the world hockey championship and we know what you will need to do – the public transport has to be convenient, which is buses, trolleybuses, and trams. We are ready to support you from our side.”
Mutko reported that progress on all the other stadia was well advanced with contracts for construction concluded and works in some arenas now in full swing.
Cities prepare for training bases
The Russian city of Yaroslavl said that it is 100% ready to host the training base for one of the teams participating in the 2018 World Cup. The head of the physical culture and sports agency in Yaroslavl Sergey Karpov said that FIFA representatives were visiting the city and they were satisfied with the stadiums Shinshik and Slavneft. Karpov thinks that the most likely stadium used would be Shinshik which has a four star hotel adjacent to it.
Transport links to match venues are wither by express train or a plane from the Tunoshna airport.
Mutko has said that the training bases for 2018 will be based in 20 Russian cities.
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