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FIFA 2014 World Cup turned out to be a grand success as Brazil played host to the most popular and viewed sport event in the world. All the matches were played across 12 venues in Brazil and now football fans across the globe can familiarise themselves with the names of the hosting venues of the World Cup 2018 and FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 which is set to be played in Russia after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2nd December 2010, FIFA’ s official website confirms.
This will be the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup and it is scheduled to take place from 14th June to 15th July 2018. This will be the first time the competition will be held in the area of the former Soviet Union and the first to be held in Europe since 2006.
The official names have been agreed upon by FIFA and the Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee, in order to ensure easy recognition both in country and around the world. Eight names make reference to the cities in which the stadiums are located.
However, the names of the remaining four stadiums are connected to other local cultural or football aspects. As per the announcement, the opening and final matches of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia will be hosted by iconic Luzhniki stadium, that owes its name to the district of Moscow in which it is located.
Spartak Stadium is another arena located in the Russia’s capital city. It bears the name of the country’s popular football club to which it belongs.
The silhouette from the Fisht stadium in Sochi resembles the mountain Caucasus and in the Adygeyan language, Fisht means white or grey head. The arena is named in the honour of the mountain.
The Mordovia Arena is one of the stadiums in Saransk which is named after the Republic of Mordovia. Four years from now, fans across the globe will have the chance to learn more about the Mordovians who are one of the larger indigenous races of Russia, with a rich cultural heritage and linguistic.
The official names of the stadiums for the 2018 FIFA World Cup are as follows:
- Ekaterinburg Arena – Ekaterinburg
- Fisht Stadium – Sochi
- Kazan Arena – Kazan
- Kaliningrad Stadium – Kaliningrad
- Luzhniki Stadium; Spartak Stadium – Moscow
- Mordovia Arena – Saransk
- Nizhny Novgorod Stadium – Nizhny Novgorod
- Rostov Arena – Rostov-on-Don
- Samara Arena – Samara
- Saint Petersburg Stadium – Saint Petersburg
- Volgograd Arena – Volgograd
