While the world still cannot get over Russia’s triumph at the Sochi Olympics, the country is girding up its lions for the next huge event in the world of sport. In four years from now, Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The championship, which will attract millions of football fans from all over the world, is supposed to be one of the most shining episodes in the World Cup tournament.
The sports event is going to have Russian-style caliber. According to Alexei Vorobyov, the head of the Moscow Department of Physical Fitness and Sport, only the capital will spend 71 billion rubles to prepare the city and athletic fields to the championship. The money will go on the transport infrastructure development as well. The Moscow authorities are planning to upgrade the Luzhniki Stadium and complete the construction works of Spartak Stadium.
Besides, new training centers for athletes as well as football fields are expected to be built. Moreover, the new up-to-the-minute broadcast center meeting all the international criteria is projected to be at the Luzhniki Stadium. The authorities are also going to renew the material and technical base of several Moscow hospitals. As for the rest of the Russian cities hosting the World Cup 2018, they were allocated with 620 billion rubles to knock everything into shape.
Interestingly, the lion’s share of this money will be invested in creating and developing the local infrastructure objects, which are supposed to be used after the tournament comes to a close. So, 172.6 billion of this amount will be spent on football-related sports facilities. Costs to be incurred by FIFA championship organization are going to be covered partially with a help of investors. The government allocates 292 billion rubles from the state budget reckoning that private investors will put in at least 226 billion, while the rest 102 billion will fall on local authorities’ shoulders. According to the estimates, over 5.5 million people are going to attend the event.