World football body FIFA has announced that 11 host cities and 12 stadiums have been selected to host the 64 matches of the 2018 World Cup Russia.
And the local organising committee has confirmed that the cost of staging the event would be almost USD20 billion, nearly double the figure initially estimated by Vladimir Putin when Russia was awarded the tournament in December 2010.
Host cities will be Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Ekaterinburg.
ԬThe announcement of the 2018 World Cup host cities almost six years ahead of the event allows the host country stakeholders to make a start on preparing the infrastructure to accommodate the football fans who will head to Russia in 2018.
Organisers said stadiums in Moscow, St Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi and Saransk were under construction. Others would follow soon.
