FIFA team inspects stadium ahead of 2018 World Cup

A FIFA inspection team took a look round the building site that is Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium on Saturday  as Russia prepares to host the 2018 World Cup.

The stadium, which has a capacity of 81,000, will host both the opening match and final of the tournament.

Delegates caught of a glimpse of the extensive work being carried out at the site, which will act as a hub during the games and will also be the location of FIFA’s office throughout the tournament.

Unger said he was pleased with the work despite the completion date being over a year away.

“It is not far enough along yet where you feel the goosebumps, but it is not too far off either. While we can certainly get a better feel for how things will work in the stadium we haven’t yet had a chance to see really everything, because it is still a construction site, it is still about a year and a half from being completed,” inspection team head Christian Unger said.

The tournament will see 12 stadiums being used in 11 cities, including two in Moscow, and one each in St. Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg.

Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Sochi, Samara will be the quarter-final venues while St Petersburg and Moscow will stage the semi-finals.

Russia, who qualify automatically as hosts, will play the opening match on June 14 with the final scheduled for July 15.