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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

2018 World Cup stadium construction in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod to cost $414 million

There were no immediate details of the stadium’s construction, but, according to earlier media reports the mooted arena was supposed to have the capacity of up to 44,000 seats for spectators

© ITAR-TASS/Rusinov Denis

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Host cities of the 2018 World Cup

MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. The construction of a stadium in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod for matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Russia, will cost $414 million, according to a decree issued by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday.

The stadium in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, which is one of a hundred world cities included in the UNESCO World Heritage list, will be located in the Strelka district.

There were no immediate details of the stadium’s construction, but, according to earlier media reports the mooted arena was supposed to have the capacity of up to 44,000 seats for spectators.

The Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) decided in August to allow holding matches of the global football event at 35,000-seat capacity stadiums. As the decision was made, initial projects on the construction and reconstruction of stadiums in Russia for the 2018 World Cup may be reviewed in terms of reducing their accommodating capacity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in August that the number of 12 stadiums in a total of 11 cities selected to host the World Cup would not be changed. The Russian president said, however, that in terms of financial spending on the World Cup preparations for Russia would be an “uneasy story,” but manageable.

Alexei Sorokin, the director general of Russia-2018 organizing committee, said last week that Russia’s planned budget for hosting 2018 FIFA World Cup will not be adjusted for the recent sharp fall in the ruble’s exchange rate.

The total budget of 664.1 billion rubles for the organization of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was announced in 2012. This figure stood at $20.5 billion based on the 2012 average exchange rate. If converted to the current exchange rate this figure drops to $16.2 billion.

A joint delegation of FIFA representatives and Russia’s Local Organizing Committee are inspecting on October 16-23 the construction and the state of readiness of Russian stadiums, which were selected to host the World Cup matches in 2018.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup less than four years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.

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2018 World Cup in Russia

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