MOSCOW, June 20 (R-Sport) - Every one of Russia’s stadiums being built for the 2018 World Cup is having trouble meeting the standards set by world football’s governing body FIFA, the official in charge of compliance said on Thursday.
FIFA sets out a wide range of requirements for each World Cup arena, with standards covering everything from total capacity to media and VIP facilities.
"All of the stadiums have problems meeting the FIFA standards," said Daniil Izotenkov, head of Arena 2018, a company set up by the organizing committee to check the stadiums and designs against FIFA rules.
"This is linked with the absence of experience in working on stadiums, so we are bringing in foreign specialists with experience of creating stadiums for the World Cup."
The foreign experts include some who worked on London's Wembley and the Amsterdam Arena, Izotenkov added.
FIFA standards have already been linked to problems for the 69,000-seater Zenit Arena in St. Petersburg, which was once supposed to open in 2008 but is now not scheduled for completion until 2016.
St. Petersburg city officials have said FIFA's demands played a role in the delays, but FIFA has denied having a hand in the matter.
