January 20 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter, in Russia at the weekend for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Cup youth championship in St Petersburg, said that he had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin who had assured him that the World Cup was not in jeopardy despite the country’s economic difficulties.
The Ruble has halved in value over the past 12 months as the price oil has plummeted, and international sanctions have restricted foreign trade and the activities of some of Russia’s biggest corporations.
Blatter said that Putin had told him “there is no intention to ask FIFA to change anything in the pattern and the program of the World Cup and we trust Russia will find a solution.”
The Russia 2018 2018 games will be held from June 14 through to July 15 at 12 stadiums in 11 cities; Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi, and Rostov-on-Don.
Blatter had suggested that Russia could save on infrastructure costs by dropping a city. However, Blatter is now against that idea
“There is no need to cut the number of stadia and the number of cities,” he said. “It has been decided.”
Russia had requested to drop some stadia capacity however FIFA said that would not be possible as it had committed to ticketing contracts with partners and would not be able to fufill them if there was a reduction in available seats.
Talking about Russia’s preparation, Blatter said: “When I compare the same time with Brazil, at the time, I wouldn’t say it’s like heaven and hell, because I don’t believe that hell exists, but I think that’s a different heaven that we are facing here.”
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