Russia 2018: Guide to the Potential World Cup Stadia

While the footballing world fascinates and frets about Brazil and her World Cup stadia, Bleacher Report looks forward to a future tournament.

In 2018, Russia are set to host the globe’s greatest sporting competition. While the nation already has an established senior league and a handful of good footballing arenas, an enormous amount of work is set to be completed over the next five years in order to prepare the country for the demands of hosting such a major event.

Unfortunately, the nation is encountering many problems in the design and construction process. As with Brazil over the last few years, the country’s sporting body is having trouble in meeting standards and complying with regulations.

This article runs down the 12 stadia and 11 cities in contention to play their part in the country’s finest hour and looks at some of the venues certain to feature.

Moscow

Moscow

Stadium: Grand Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex; the Luzhniki Stadium

Capacity: 78,360

Originally Opened: The stadium, which will be used to open and close the tournament, was originally opened on July 31, 1956.

Key Fact: Luzhniki roughly translates as ‘The Meadows’ and refers to the specific location where the stadium is built, the flood meadows on a meander of the Moskva River.

Moscow

Moscow

Stadium: Otkrytie Arena

Tenants: FC Spartak Moscow

Capacity: 43,000

Construction: Work began in October 2010 and is due to be completed in 2014.

Key Fact: The stadium was built on the former site of the Tushino airfield, a site of military airshows during the Cold War.

Kazan

Stadium: New Kazan Stadium

Tenants: FC Rubin Kazan

Capacity: 45,105

Construction: Completed earlier in the year.

Key Fact: The Stadium is currently playing host to the 2013 Summer Universiade, an international sporting event for university athletes.

Nizhny Novgorod

Stadium: Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

Tenants: FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod

Capacity: 45,000

Construction: The shape, size and location of the stadium have already been chosen and construction is due to be completed in September.

Key Fact: Due to the adverse weather conditions that regularly hit Nizhy Novgorod the stadium has been made weatherproof. There will be external panels to offer wind protection and gas-infrared heaters inside which will raise the temperature of the seating area.

Samara

Stadium: Samara Stadium

Tenants: FC Krylia Sovetov Samara

Capacity: 44,918

Construction: Stadium planning has been beset with issues of location and relocation, with an appropriate spot eventually being chosen for the arena it remains to be seen how quickly construction can advance.

Key Fact: One issue that has affected the location of the stadium was a fatal flood that occurred in the town of Krymsk in July 2012. The tragedy prompted a new law which insisted that any large developments near water must be “at least eight metres above water level.”

Saint Petersburg

Stadium: New Zenit Stadium

Tenants: Zenit Saint Petersburg

Capacity: 62,000

Construction: Things aren’t going well. The completion date for the stadium has continually been put back and now it looks like it won’t open until the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.

Key Fact: The troubled history of the stadium has also received the attention of the Russian prime minister. In 2012 Dmitry Medvedev complained that the architectural drawings looked “disgraceful” prompting a hasty redraw.

Kaliningrad

Stadium: Arena Baltika

Tenants: FC Baltika Kaliningrad

Capacity: 45,000

Construction: Building work is due to begin in 2014.

Key Fact: Wilmotte & Associes won a competition to design the Kaliningrad arena. Their designs demonstrate an urban façade which wraps around the stadium. The plan is to dismantle the structure after the tournament, resulting in a much more modest venue.

Sochi

Stadium: Fisht Olympic Stadium

Tenants: The Stadium is set to be a training centre and match arena for the Russian national side.

Capacity: 47,659 for the World Cup and 40,000 for the Olympics

Construction: Building work is due to begin in 2014.

Key Fact: As well as the World Cup, the stadium is set to be a host at the 2014 Winter Olympics. The city has little in the way of existing football culture.

Rostov

Stadium: The New Rostov Stadium/Levberdon Arena

Tenants: FC Rostov

Capacity: 25,000

Construction: Planning is well underway and the stadium is expected to be completed in 2016.

Key Fact: According to Stadiumguide.com the design of the arena was inspired by Kurgans, the ancient mounts of earth that are common in the Rostov region.

Volgograd

Stadium: Central Stadium

Tenants: FC Rotor Volgograd

Capacity:  Reconstruction from 12,000 to 45,015.

Construction: The Stadium is to be build on the site of the current ground of Russian side Rotor. Building work due to start in 2014.

Key Fact: Current estimates for stadium construction costs sit at a whopping $380 million.

Yekaterinburg

Stadium: Central Stadium

Tenants: FC Ural Sverdlovsk Oblast

Capacity: Renovation from 27,000 to 44,130.

Construction: Leonid Rapoport reassured the public in February that work would soon begin on the stadium reconstruction. The Sverdlovsk Region Sports Minister confirmed that the arena would be ready for operation by 2017.

Key Fact: The stadium is included in Russia’s national architectural heritage list and thus the renovation is being handled with the utmost care. The city of Yekaterinburg is close to the border of Kazakhstan and has a population of 1.3 million people.

Saransk

Stadium: The Yubileyniy Stadium

Tenants: FC Mordovia Saransk

Capacity: 45,015

Construction: Work is underway in this footballing backwater, construction is due to be completed in 2014.

Key Fact: 400 miles east of Moscow, until last year the town had never hosted a top-tier football match. It is hard to imagine what will become of the venue after the World Cup. Perhaps just another white elephant, a hopeless drain on resources, left to drift aimlessly into disrepair and dereliction. Expectations will rest on the shoulders of FC Mordovia Saransk, who will be the stadium’s tenants following its completion.