By Paul Nicholson
November 2 – Russia’s 2018 preparations are ramping up with reports that the redevelopment of the Luzhniki stadium which will host the opening match and the final is ahead of schedule while elsewhere infrastructure projects are gathering pace with the Nizhny Novgorod regional government announcing it has allocated Ruble 1.9 billion for a subway link to its stadium.
Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that reconstruction of the Luzhniki stadium may even finish earlier than planned. He said he doesn’t want a recurrence of what happened in Brazil where “the construction is finished and a game is tomorrow. We want to carry out proper tests and preparations.”
The 2018 World Cup will be held in 12 stadia in 11 cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Sochi and Rostov-on-Don.
While most of the stadia are now under construction, not all are as far ahead of plan as the Luzhniki. The Samara Arena, which will be renamed the Cosmos Arena after the 2018 finals, is one stadium that is still in the design phase.
First deputy head of the city of Samara Viktor Kudryashov said that the design plan is expected to be finalised by the end of the year. The stadium will have a 45,000 seat capacity and will host six matches – four group games, a round of 16 match and a quarter final.
Meanwhile the Kazan Arena has been given the green light by UEFA to host matches and will launch this week with November 5 Europa League match between Rubin and Liverpool.
While the stadia are in various stages of progression, the infrastructure build in the host cotoes os also gathering speed with the government of the Nizhny Novgorod region’s announcement that it plans to allocate 1.9 bln rubles in 2016 for the subway construction. “Among the most important capital objects that are eligible for funding in 2016, subway construction project for the tunnel from ‘Moskovskaya station to ‘Strelka’ for 1.9 bln rubles stands out,” said the region’s minister of finance Olga Sulima.
Tunnel construction is expected to start this month. The Strelka station will be walking distance from the stadium and is said will have a capacity of 30,000 passenger per day. The Nizhny Novgorod stadium will have a capacity of 45,000 and will host six World Cup matches.
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