Volgograd ready for World Cup revamp - RUSSIA 2018
On Friday, Volgograd came under inspection from a high-ranking delegation led by Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, which paid the city a visit to check on its preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™. Accompanying Shuvalov were Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister and the chairman of the Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee (LOC), and Alexey Sorokin, the LOC’s chief executive.
Volgograd’s main World Cup facility – its new 45,000-seater stadium – will be situated at the foot of the Motherland is Calling monument, the city’s most famous landmark and one of Russia’s most majestic symbols. The new arena will be built at the site of the old Central stadium, which used to host local club Rotor Volgograd’s home games, including its celebrated encounter with Manchester United in the UEFA Cup in September 1995 and its domestic top-of-the-table clashes with Spartak Moscow in the mid-1990s. The Central stadium has now been completely demolished, and initial construction work is already under way for the new stadium: a construction pit is being readied, a communications infrastructure is being put in place and accommodation is being built for construction workers.
Igor Shuvalov paid close attention to the construction work, emphasising the need to keep efforts going at the required rate. “At the moment there are no delays with preparations for the arena, but the initial construction work needs to be stepped up,” the first deputy prime minister stressed.
The governor of Volgograd Region, Andrei Bocharov, who was hosting the guests from Moscow, showed the delegation Volgograd’s international airport. The design for the rebuilding of the airfield complex and for the new international passenger terminal, which is currently being built and which will cover an area of 10,000m2, will mean the airport will be able to deal with any type of aircraft, as well as handling 1,600 passengers an hour.
The delegation also inspected the city centre, and discussed possible locations for the FIFA Fan Fest. Bocharov said that, ahead of Russia 2018, the external facades of buildings in the city centre will be renovated.
Summing up the visit, Shuvalov said that preparations for the World Cup must include a major programme to modernise the whole infrastructure of the city, which is a living monument to people’s heroic deeds during the Second World War. “It all needs to be done afresh,” the minister said. “We came here to have a serious discussion about Volgograd’s preparations for the World Cup. We owe it to the war veterans to spruce the city up. The memory of Volgograd is very important to our country.”