By Andrew Warshaw in St Petersburg
September 20- Russia’s second city is leaving no piece of granite unturned in its efforts to play a major part in the World Cup if the country wins the vote to stage the 2018 tournament.
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September 15 – The Government department led Vitaly Mutko, the leader of Russia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup and a member of FIFA’s ruling Executive Commitee, is under criminal investigation, it was revealed tonight.
September 11 – Plans by West Bromwich Albion fans to display a banner answering the alleged racist send-off given to Peter Odemwingie from Lokomotiv Moscow fans at today’s match against Tottenham Hotspur were scuppered by technical problems.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
September 7 – Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko has today blamed the British media for the racism row that is threatening to overshadow his country’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup and claimed that there was corruption in England, an allegation that draw could draw the attention of FIFA watchdogs.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
September 6 – Former Chelsea midfielder Alexei Smertin has denied fears his country’s World Cup bid is at the centre of a dirty tricks campaign being waged by the UK media.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
September 4 – Nigeria are to actively campaign against Russia’s bid to be awarded the 2018 World Cup following the alleged racial abuse suffered by its striker Peter Odemwingie when he played in the country for Lokomotiv Moscow.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
September 2 – Racism is not endemic in Russian football and should not stop the country being awarded the 2018 World Cup, the bid’s chief executive Alexei Sorokin claimed today – but was contradicted by Peter Odemwingie, the Nigerian player whose treatment has sparked the latest controversy.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 19 – FIFA’s 2018 World Cup inspection team completed its fact-finding tour of Russia today after repeated assurances the country would be ready to host football’s flagship tournament in eight years’ time.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
August 18 – Kazan and Sochi were the latest stops visited today by the FIFA inspection team as they continued to assess Russia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
By David Owen
August 17 – Russia is ready to introduce a visa-free regime for fans attending World Cup football matches, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told a FIFA inspection team, as the country wheeled out the big guns in support of its ambition to host the 2018 World Cup.
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By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
August 16 – Russia will do everything possible to host the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022, the country’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko vowed as FIFA’s inspection team arrived in St Petersburg to begin its four-day visit.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 12 – Russia’s 2018 World Cup bid team has delivered the broadest hint yet that the FIFA inspection team about to visit the country will be able to include Moscow in their itinerary.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 11 – Russian officials insisted today that next week’s FIFA inspection visit for their 2018 World Cup candidature would most likely still go ahead despite the drought crisis that has plunged Moscow into a choking heat cloud.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
August 10 – South African President Jacob Zuma has offered his country’s help to aid Russia’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.
By Duncan Mackay
British Sports Internet Writer of the Year
August 7 – Russia’s match against Bulgaria on Wednesday (August 11) has been moved from Moscow to St Petersburg because of health risks after acrid smog engulfed the Russian capital at a time that officials were hoping to showcase the country’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup.