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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

Russia to receive $100 mln under FIFA Legacy program for hosting 2018 World Cup

The bulk of the funds will go to the regions, according to the president of the Russian Football Union

President of the Russian Football Union Alexander Dyukov Donat Sorokin/TASS

President of the Russian Football Union Alexander Dyukov

© Donat Sorokin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The world’s governing football body, FIFA, will allocate $100 million to Russia under the FIFA Legacy program for hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Alexander Dyukov, the president of the Russian Football Union (RFU), told journalists on Friday.

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"During our talks with FIFA, we have managed to almost double the sum under this [FIFA Legacy] program, bringing it up from $60 million to $100 million," Dyukov said.

"More than half of this sum has been allocated to finance the RFU regional centers in their provision of the year-round sports infrastructure, including through the construction of new small-sized sports arenas," the RFU president said.

According to Dyukov, the main transformation in the policy of the RFU concerns the organization’s work with the country’s regions as "the federation is channeling additional financial sources to the regions and the financial aid for regional football federations and inter-regional organizations has been doubled."

Russia hosted its first-ever FIFA World Cup in 2018, which kicked off in Moscow with a remarkable opening show at Luzhniki Stadium on the evening of June 14, 2018 and ended with a spectacular final match, played also at the Luzhniki Stadium, where France confidently defeated Croatia 4-2 to win the much-coveted World Cup Trophy.

The championship was organized at 12 stadiums in 11 cities across Russia, namely in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said after the world championship that Russia had staged "the best World Cup ever." In late December 2018, FIFA announced in its statement that the World Cup in Russia set a new record as far as audiences go in the history of world football championships since over half of the world’s population watched the matches on TV at home, out of home or on digital platforms.

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