By David Gold
September 20 – The battle is heating up between the two Moscow stadiums competing to join the Luzhniki as a host venue of FIFA World Cup matches in 2018.
Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Moscow are both constructing new stadiums, but only one is likely to be selected to join the iconic Luzhniki among the 12 venues selected for Russia 2018.
The FIFA Executive Committee will announce the final decision after its Executive Committee meeting in Moscow later this month.
FIFA and Russia 2018 delegates went on a tour of the prospective host cities earlier this year, and last week Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, also a FIFA Executive Committee member and chairman of Russia 2018, said 12 stadiums from 11 cities would be chosen.
As a result, Moscow will almost certainly have two stadiums chosen, one of which will be the Luzhniki, which staged the 1980 Summer Olympics and will host the final of the FIFA showpiece.
Both constructors involved in the new Spartak and Dynamo stadiums were part of a key seminar that took place earlier this week in Moscow.
Arena 2018 is the organisation monitoring the construction of stadiums for the World Cup and held its first meeting on Monday.
The main stage of construction of the new Spartak Moscow stadium (pictured top) is due for completion by early 2014.
Andrey Kozyrev, the director of the club’s stadium construction department, said: “The Spartak stadium will be pleased to host matches at Russia 2018, and we’re doing all we can to be in shape for that.”
He added that it was looking forward to working with the constructors of Russia’s other World Cup stadiums in the years to come.
“In future, we’re looking forward to even closer collaboration and cooperation with all the seminar participants in order to make sure that Russia’s staging of as grand an event as the FIFA World Cup is a success,” Kozyrev explained.
Construction of the new Dynamo Moscow stadium (pictured above) is scheduled to begin in January, with work expected to be complete by the end of 2016.
The chief executive of the management company building that stadium, Andrey Peregudov, said: “This latest meeting under the auspices of the Russia 2018 LOC has given us the opportunity to discuss and identify the most sensitive issues which our colleagues are coming up against as they prepare the stadiums for Russia 2018.”
Peregudov also insisted that it did not consider any of the other stadiums involved in the process to be rivals, despite one being set to miss out.
“What we have is a dialogue not between rivals, but between colleagues,” he said.
“We are confident that staging Russia 2018 matches at Petrovsky Park, the cradle of football in Moscow and in Russia, will be a genuine celebration and a memorable event for everyone who loves the world’s favourite game.”
Arena 2018 is a significant part of the Russian preparations for the country’s first ever World Cup.
Every single stadium that Russia will use for the competition in 2018 is being either renovated or built completely from scratch.
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