February 6 – Russia’s sports minister says no more changes can be made to stadium concepts for the 2018 World Cup in terms of reducing both the number of venues and their capacities.
Last week Mutko said Russia would cut the World Cup budget but not when it comes to infrastructure.
“We have passed the point of no return,” he told Tass. “The concept of the tournament’s organisation has been approved and is not subject to changes. The last chance to introduce chances was in June last year, when FIFA president Sepp Blatter and members of the FIFA Executive Committee were not against the idea of reducing the number of hosting cities. It helped to considerably cut expenses and to solve the issue (but) FIFA is not giving us any other concessions and all other stadiums must have a minimum 45,000-seat capacity.”
Meanwhile, local authorities revealed that the World Cup stadium in the southern Russian city of Rostov is seven months behind schedule and faces a “tight deadline” to be ready in time.
The completion date has slipped from May 2017 to December the same year according to the Rostov regional construction ministry.
“Taking into account the tight deadline for the construction of the stadium, a double-shift work schedule has been organised,” a statement said.
Most of Russia’s other stadiums appear to be on schedule, the key exception being the 69,000-capacity stadium in St. Petersburg, which will host one of the semifinals. It is now targeting a 2016 completion in time for the 2017 Confederations Cup following almost a decade of delays.
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