FIFA’s 2022 ‘Summer’ task force set for first pow wow
By Andrew Warshaw
September 2 – The FIFA-appointed Task Force set up 10 months ago to decide on the best date for the 2022 Qatar World Cup will meet for the first time on September 8.
World Cup
UK’s Snoozebox signed to provide pop-up hotel in Saransk for 2018 World Cup
September 2 – Finding accommodation at affordable prices at World Cups can often be more of a challenge for fans than buying tickets. Russia 2018 may have found a solution with the Snoozebox Football Village that is planned for Saransk.
Spartak open new stadium, budgets hiked up in Nizhny Novgorod and Volgograd
By Paul Nicholson
August 27 – Spartak Moscow’s new stadium will be opened today with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev attending the opening ceremony. Putin will tour the stadium and discuss preparations for the 2018 World Cup.
Managerial spat develops into far more sordid saga
By Andrew Warshaw
August 22- What started out as an English top-flight club unexpectedly losing the manager voted the best in Premier League last season has developed into a sordid saga that has made back-page headlines and tarnished the integrity of the game.
Registrations open for World Football Forum in Moscow, November 13
22 August – With Russia rapidly putting in place preparations to host the world’s football community in 2018 for the FIFA World Cup, early movers can get a head start in the market at the World Football Forum that will be held at Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, November 13.
Mutko repeats that there is no shift in 2018 World Cup plan
August 22 – Speaking in Saransk, Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko again repeated that there would be no change to the number of cities hosting the 2018 World Cup and that it would remain as 11, with a further 20 cities hosting national teams.
Mutko rejects FIFA offer and sticks to 2018 World Cup plan as build ramps up
By Paul Nicholson
August 20 – Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko has turned down a FIFA proposal to reduce the number of stadiums and cities that will host the 2018 World Cup. FIFA president Sepp Blatter met with Russian president Vladimir Putin as well as Mutko in Sochi last weekend and suggested a possible reduction.
Sorokin says focus is on delivery of 2018, not on politics
By Andrew Warshaw
August 18 – The head of Russia’s 2018 World Cup organising committee has broken his silence over calls in some quarters for the country to be stripped of host status as a result of the widely condemned military and political intervention in Ukraine.
Russian poll finds positive attitude to 2018 but some concern on costs
August 18 – A survey by the Russian Foundation of Public Opinion found that the overwhelming majority of Russians believe that holding the 2018 World Cup in Russia will promote interest in sport and a healthy lifestyle.
World Cups are bad for your health: sue FIFA and its referees
August 15 – FIFA has to deal with scores of complaints on an almost daily basis but few are surely more bizarre than the revelation that a Colombian lawyer is suing world football’s governing body for €1 billion over “moral damages” caused by refereeing at the World Cup.
Russians start ‘disaster’ planning for 2018 World Cup
August 14 – Russia’s EMERCOM (The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters), has begun preparations for the 2018 World Cup and says it will draw on the experiences of the Brazil World Cup, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2013 Kazan University Olympiade in its planning.
Russians clear the ground for Saransk Arena build
August 13 – Details of Russia’s stadium build for the 2018 World Cup are starting to be released. The Saransk Arena has now had official planning approval while August will see completion of the Spartak Moscow stadium.
Russian PM Medvedev says 2018 World Cup costs must hit budgets
By Paul Nicholson
August 12 – Russia’s prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has called for a close monitoring of the costs of building the infrastructure for the 2018 World Cup, following the financial plan that already exists. He also insisted that the preparations should be made to the highest standards and that the experience of hosting a successful Olympics has shown the way in this regard.
Russians release cash for Volgograd and test visa free entry
August 7- Indications that Volgograd will retain host status for the Russia 2018 World Cup could not have been stronger with the announcement that the Zenit sports complex in the city will receive 56 million rubles ($1.5 million) for reconstruction enabling it to become one of the training centres for the tournament.
Whelan bailed from Brazil’s Bangu jail as defence team demand to see evidence
By Andrew Warshaw
August 6 – In a major triumph for his employers who have long protested his innocence, Ray Whelan, the British director of FIFA’s World Cup marketing affiliate Match who has been at the centre of a ticket tout investigation in Brazil, has been freed from Rio’s notorious Bangu prison on bail.