'World Cup 2018 venues to be completed on time' - Russian Authorities

All stadiums being built for the FIFA World Cup 2018, to be staged in Russia, will be completed on time though they are at present below FIFA standards, Russian sports officials said.

“All of the stadiums have problems meeting the FIFA standards,” Daniil Izotenkov, head of the Arena 2018, a company set up to check the stadiums and designs against FIFA rules, told reporters, reports Xinhua.

Izotenkov said Russia has been hiring foreign specialists with experience of creating stadiums for the World Cup, who worked on London’s Wembley and the Amsterdam Arena, for example.

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that all the stadiums will be completed on time.

Mutko said that among 12 stadiums to host the Cup, five have been built in accordance with schedule. Arenas in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg are among the most troubled sites, still they will be built on time too, the minister promised.

He said the government set up the price cap at 15 billion rubles ($500 million) for each stadium construction.

World Cup 2018 will take place in 12 stadiums in 11 Russian cities.