FIFA confident of Russia's will to deliver at 2018 World Cup

By David Gold

October 11 – FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke has praised the enthusiasm and commitment of Russia after the first meeting of world football’s governing body and the 2018 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC).

During the meeting, held in Moscow and chaired by Valcke and LOC chair Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s Sports Minister and a member of FIFA’s ruling Executive Committee, it was announced that the host cities for the tournament would be confirmed in 12 months’ time, rather than 2013 as originally planned.

LOC chief executive Alexey Sorokin set out the procedure for deciding the host cities of the tournament, with those in contention now taking part in the first candidate host city workshop as the process gets underway.

Currently 15 stadiums are in the running across 13 cities, predominantly in the west of the country, with the intention being to select a maximum of 13 venues in 12 cities.

Russia faces a number of infrastructural challenges in the build up to the 2018 tournament, particularly given that the host cities are likely to be spread out, like Brazil 2014, over a far larger area than normal.

To help combat this issue a high-speed rail line is being planned to ensure that fans can get between cities easily.

Transport networks in Moscow, particularly its surrounding highways, which are frequently heavily congested, need improvements completed before they are fit to host the World Cup.

Russia will also have to construct most of the new stadia from scratch, with just two of the proposed stadia existing already – the Luzhniki, which hosted the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, and the Dynamo, which is the home of Dynamo Moscow.

Both grounds will undergo renovation before 2018, whilst the Olympic Stadium in Sochi and the new Zenit St Petersburg ground are both currently being built, but the other 11 possible venues would all need to be built from scratch.

Mutko also confirmed that a World Cup law was already being drawn up in preparation for introduction to the State Duma at the start of 2012.

The news will delight FIFA after their wrangling this month with Brazil over their delays and disagreements over the precise details of the law ahead of their hosting of the 2014 World Cup.

“We are pleased to announce that the legislative process for the dedicated FIFA World Cup law, the legal foundation for the successful staging of the FIFA World Cup, has begun already,” said Mutko.

“The FIFA World Cup law will be introduced to the State Duma by the Government in the first quarter of 2012.

“In this context, I would once again confirm the Russian government’s commitment to fulfil all their guarantees in preparation for the tournament.”

Valcke was delighted with the spirit shown by the Organising Committee, and said: “It is amazing to see the great enthusiasm, partnership and level of commitment by the LOC and the Russian government at this stage.

“Now we just have to ensure that we keep up this working spirit as there is a lot to be accomplished in Russia.

“But I can reassure you of the full support of the FIFA team.”

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