FIFA team to inspect Russia’s bid

A delegation of FIFA inspectors arrived yesterday in Saint Petersburg to evaluate the viability of Russia’s bid to host the 2018 or the 2022 World Cup.

The six-man board, led by the Chilean Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, landed at St Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport to open a round of visits to the country’s proposed World Cup host cities.

They were joined by Russian Football Union (RFU) chief Sergei Fursenko and Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who are set to present the country’s bid to FIFA delegates.

Russia is the inspectors’ fifth stop in their tour of nine countries that are bidding to host the 2018 or 2022 tournaments. The FIFA delegation has already visited Japan and South Korea, Australia and have also tested the Netherlands-Belgium joint bid.

The visitors were to start their inspection in St Petersburg from the construction site of the city’s new arena at Krestovsky island, which is supposed to host a possible World Cup semi-final.

Today the delegation is expected to visit the country’s capital Moscow to inspect the city’s facilities and the event’s main arena – the five-star Luzhniki stadium, which hosted the Champions League final in 2008.

They will also attend the major presentation of the country’s bid at the Russian government’s reception house.

Tomorrow, the inspectors are set to visit Kazan, the hometown of Russia’s reigning football champions Rubin and the southern resort city of Sochi, the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

On Thursday, the FIFA inspectors will return to Moscow to hold a news conference before their departure.