Pros and cons of the Cup venues

THE 2018 World Cup is half a year away but just five out of the 12 stadiums where competition matches are planned in Russia are functional.

Fifa, however, says it is not concerned and almost all the venues should be completed by a December 31 deadline.

Here is an overview of the stadiums spread across 11 cities, from Moscow’s show-stopping Luzhniki to the behind-schedule venue in Samara on the Volga river: Luzhniki – 81 000- seater Russia’s most famous football venue has been hosting matches since 1956. The entirely renovated stadium saw its first event in November this year with a match between Russia and Argentina. Petersburg – 68 000 Work on the stadium in Russia’s northern capital, where one semifinal and the match for third place will be held, took more than 10 years and came in way over budget. The turf was replaced as it was too fragile, but the new pitch is already in a bad state. Spartak – 45 000 Built in 2014, the Otkrytie Arena is home to Spartak Moscow and will be known as the Spartak Stadium for the World Cup. The venue is known for its buzzing atmosphere, especially so when it hosts the national team. Kazan Arena – 41 585 The stadium in the capital of Tatarstan was opened in 2013 during the Universiade, an international event for university athletes. Kazan will host six World Cup matches. Fisht Stadium – 41 220 Located in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, at the foot of the Caucasus region, the Fisht Stadium hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics. It will host six World Cup games. Volgograd – 45 000 Architecturally similar to the “bird’s nest” stadium that Beijing constructed for the 2008 Olympic Games, this new venue on the banks of the Volga will host four matches. Nizhni Novgorod – 45 000 Several incidents, including a minor fire, have set back construction but the venue is set to be completed by the end of December. Rostov-on-Don – 45 000 The future home of FC Rostov is completed and awaiting its first official match. Samara Stadium – 44 000 If there is one venue still causing concern, it is Samara, some 850km southeast of Moscow. Work is well behind schedule and the stadium will not host an official match until April at the earliest. Mordovia – 44 000 Should be completed before the end of December. Yekaterinburg – 35 000 The stadium in Yekaterinburg made front pages around the world when pictures were published of temporary seating perched atop scaffolding outside the arena, looking in. The UK’s perplexed Guardian newspaper suggested the entire ensemble might have come from “outer space” while USA Today screamed that it “couldn’t look any scarier”. Kaliningrad in Russia and in Europe – 35000 Four matches are set to be played in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave to the north of Poland. If the stadium is almost finished, its surroundings still need to be developed and this may prove no easy task, given that it was constructed on a swamp. —