LOC submits Russia 2018 Host Cities report to FIFA

Vitaly Mutko, the Russian Minister of Sport and chairman of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Local Organising Committee, and LOC CEO Alexey Sorokin on Wednesday officially handed over the technical report on the 13 candidate Host Cities at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The report is a result of the inspection tour which took place from 12 April to 22 June 2012. During these visits, the technical experts analysed the proposed stadiums and venue construction sites, examined airports and other infrastructure together with city and regional authorities vying for the right to host Russia 2018 matches. The report evaluates the candidate host cities according to five criteria: current infrastructure, level of socio-economic development, investment programmes and plans for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as well as the effective use of the tournament’s legacy. The technical report will be the general basis for approval of the 2018 FIFA World Cup host cities at the FIFA Executive Committee meeting in Zurich on 27 and 28 September. "The selection of the host cities is an important milestone for any organizer as the host cities provide the essential playing fields," said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter. "Without them we could not stage the FIFA World Cup. Today we have received the final technical report and this was an exciting moment. I look forward to come to Moscow on Saturday when we will together with the LOC present the final line-up of venues. The 2018 LOC has done a great work with the evaluation of all the candidates." "The 2018 FIFA World Cup host cities announcement will kick-start the major preparations for the tournament in our country," agreed Mutko. "Since 2 December 2010, when FIFA made an historic decision to award the right to host the 2018 World Cup to Russia, we began to work with all the regions and cities competing to host the tournament. Our goal remains the same: to hold the best World Cup in FIFA’s history. "We have no doubt that the decision on the host cities will above all reflect the interests of football fans," opined Sorokin. "We have done our best to ensure fair conditions for all thirteen candidate cities competing for the right to hold World Cup matches throughout the selection process." The final list of the 2018 FIFA World Cup host cities will be announced on 29 September during a live broadcast of the Tonight (Segodnya Vecherom) show on Channel 1. The program will start at 9:20 pm, Moscow time. 13 Russian candidate cities divided into four geographic clusters compete to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches: Moscow (Central cluster); St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad (Northern cluster); Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saransk and Volgograd (Volga cluster); Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Krasnodar (Southern cluster) as well as Ekaterinburg. From : Fifa