Chechnya cup bases on England miss list

ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate flies to Russia for a World Cup research trip this week, facing a scramble for the best training bases — with Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Brazil among the nations who have already started work on tying up the best venues. St Petersburg and Moscow are thought to be the Football Association’s favourite locations, but other countries prefer bases around Sochi and Rostov because of the more predictable climate there. The venue that the FA will want to avoid is Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, which has been listed by FIFA as a potential team base camp despite the Foreign Office in London advising Britons ‘against all travel to Chechnya’ because of the security situation. The five-star Hotel Grozny City is one of 19 locations offered in FIFA’s ‘southern cluster’, near south-east host city of Volgograd. It is promoted as being six miles from Grozny Airport and four miles from the recommended training base. There are 23 bases on offer in and around Moscow, which would ensure that Southgate’s players do not face flights to games at the Luzhniki Stadium — where the final will be held — or the Otkrytiye Arena, which is Spartak Moscow’s new ground. But Moscow’s June climate varies radically between soaring temperatures, or heavy rain and even tornadoes. Provisional agreements with preferred bases could make it more likely that a country will have a head start if there is demand for the same venue after the World Cup draw — scheduled to take place in the Kremlin on December 1. In Sochi, facilities reflect the billions invested for Russia’s controversial Winter Olympics three years ago. Rostov offers 11 facilities and more five-star options, but it is an hour from the sea.