Moscow, 19 August 2010 – A FIFA World Cup™ in Russia would offer vast potential for legacy of the world’s biggest single sports event. While Russia today would not yet be ready to host FIFA’s flagship competition in terms of the infrastructure required, the FIFA Inspection Delegation stated that, on the base of the guarantees given by the government and the personal assurances and commitment by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the country will fulfil all requirements for the event by 2018.
Vitaly Mutko, Chairman of the Bid Committee and Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, lauded the highly professional and careful attitude of the FIFA expert group and the quality of their assessment: “We would like to thank you for being with us to review our bid and regret that we only had a short time to familiarize you further with its various elements. You have seen the enthusiasm of the people and how the various regions you have visited and the people in charge are behind our bid. A great deal of work is already in progress and more is still being needed, however, as we have said at the outset, we are fully determined in all our efforts to fulfil and excel the FIFA requirements and thus earn the right and privilege to host the FIFA World Cup™.”
At the concluding media briefing today (Thursday) at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, Harold Mayne-Nicholls, head of the FIFA Inspection Delegation, summarised the inspection visit with the following statement:
“After four days of inspection we feel that we have all the information needed to submit a fair report about the bid of Russia for the FIFA World Cups 2018/2022.
First of all I would like to thank the entire Bid Committee on behalf of my colleagues from the Inspection Group. We indeed had an excellent visit. The amount of time the Minister of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy, Vitaly Mutko, as well as the President of the Russian Football Union, Sergey Fursenko, dedicated for us was remarkable.
On our inspection visit we had the opportunity to travel to four proposed Host Cities for the FIFA World Cup™: Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan and Sochi. In each of the cities we have received full support and all relevant information concerning the preparation plans for the FIFA World Cup™ – such as stadiums, training camps as well as main infrastructural investment projects.
In the meeting we held with the Russian Prime Minister, Mr. Putin made very clear that the Government is willing to grant us all needed state guarantees, adding “Everything will be on time, and we can assure you, that the funds will be coming from federal and regional government budgets as well as from private sources.”
Our whole delegation group was impressed about the Prime Ministers level of interest and knowledge concerning the bid and football in general. Moreover we really appreciated, that Mr. Putin had interrupted his summer vacations in order to be able to meet us.
Concerning the stadium infrastructure all relevant authorities emphasized, that even if Russia would not gain the right to host the FIFA World Cup, the majority of upgrading measures will still go ahead.
The two main upcoming sports events to be held in Russia, the Universiade Games 2013 in Kazan and the Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Sochi, would be a huge milestones on the way to the FIFA World Cup 2018 or 2022. It would be the perfect opportunity for your country to prove to the world once again your organization skills on such a scale.
Talking about the future, I would like to draw your attention to “Stadiums for the Children”, a legacy program which shall secure within the next five years to have more than 1000 additional artificial football pitches in the country. This of course proves the interest from the government to enhance the quality of local football. Not to forget the “Futsal for School” program, which is supposed to grow until 2015 from a total of 320,000 participating players at present to about 1.5 million players. The implementation of these programs as well as the inauguration of a student’s league should guarantee for the next years that football stays by far the number one sport in Russia. This kind of legacy is exactly what FIFA is looking for.
We moreover had the chance to learn about Russia’s great football history by meeting former legends such as Nikita Simonian and Alexei Smertin, Sporting Director of the Bid and former captain of the Russian National Team. His Youth Academy project and his legacy plans impressed us, so did his key motto for life “This is not only about discovering great players, this is also about helping to create a healthy environment and good people.”
One of the highlights of our trip was the opening of three training centre for the upcoming Student Games in Kazan, we experienced together with more than 1,500 truly enthusiastic kids and teenagers.
Eventually I would like to emphasize, that in the case the FIFA Executive Committee decides in December that the World Cup will go for the first time in football history to Russia, work would need to start immediately, to guarantee that everything will be in place right in time. The main goal would be that the world’s number one sporting event will help to establish a bright future for Russian football.”
The whirlwind tour of Russia provided the FIFA Inspection Delegation with a comprehensive and in-depth view of the bid and its most salient characteristics in terms of the host cities, stadiums and iconic fan fest locations such as Moscow’s Red Square and St. Petersburg’s Palace Square. Highlights included the meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at his residence outside Moscow and the courtesy visit paid to the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov as well as to governors of the host cities and regions.
Russia is the fifth of the total of nine bids and the sixth of 11 countries that the FIFA Inspection Delegation will be visiting in the course of two months. The inspection is a fact-finding mission serving to review on site and deepen FIFA’s understanding regarding the respective candidatures.
The experts will subsequently draw up a comprehensive report to be submitted to the FIFA Executive Committee that will designate the host countries of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at a special meeting at the headquarters of the world governing body of football in Zurich on 2 December 2010.
For more information:
Russia Bid Committee for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™
Julia Cooper, Communications Manager Phone: +7 495 660 49 80
E-mail: [email protected]
Andreas Herren, International Media Coordinator Mobile: +41 (79) 799 0046
E-mail: [email protected]
