PUTIN ON THE RITZ

The most easterly city hosting matches, at the foot of the Ural mountains, it was where members of the royal family were executed after the October 1917 revolution. The stadium was initially built in 1953. The most westerly city to stage games. The city was founded by Teutonic knights in the 13th century. Situated on the Baltic coast, it remains a vital Russian seaport. The stadium has been built for the finals. Built in the 1950s, it was used during the 1980 Olympic Games. As well as the national team, it has at various times been home to city clubs Spartak, CSKA and Torpedo. Will host the first match and the final. Built on hills overlooking the Volga river, Nizhny Novgorod has been a key commercial city since the 19th century. One of the stadiums constructed specially for the tournament. A historic city famed for its Cossack culture, sitting on the banks of the Don river 1,000 kilometres to the south-east of Moscow. FC Rostov will make the arena their new home once the tournament is finished. Kazan is the capital of the republic of Tatarstan and is home to 1.2 million people. The stadium was built for the World University Games in 2013. It was designed by the same firm of architects behind Wembley and the Emirates Stadium. The city formerly known as Stalingrad, site of a pivotal battle of the Second World War, is now an industrial hub, home to a million inhabitants. The stadium is built on the site of the old Central ground and will house FC Rotor once the finals are over. Home, as the name suggests, to Spartak Moscow, who despite a huge fan-base had never had a stadium to call their own until it opened in 2014. A residential area will be built around it after the finals. The old imperial capital’s stadium hosts some big games including what could be a make-or-break second match for the hosts. It will also host three group matches at the pan-European Euro 2020 finals. Capital of the Samara region and home to the offices of the Russian state when they were evacuated from Moscow in the Second World War. Vladimir Putin buried a time capsule to mark the start of construction. The capital of the Mordovia region has a population of around 300,000. The stadium will be reduced to 25,000 capacity after the tournament, with the space being freed up for other indoor sports on the same complex. The resort city on the edge of the Black Sea hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics, and the Fisht Stadium was purpose-built for those Games. It is due to be a training – and match – venue for the Russia national team.