SARANSK, Russia, January 10 (R-Sport) - It may be the smallest and perhaps most obscure of the 11 host cities for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but Saransk is forging ahead with building its stadium faster than many of its rivals, the regional government head has told R-Sport.
Saransk was a surprise choice to host the tournament, which means building a 45,000-capacity stadium in the central Russian city of just under 300,000, which is better known for producing Olympic racewalkers than for glory on the football field.
Saransk’s backers pushed the city as a reliable destination for the tournament before the final host city selection took place in 2012, and some building work began even before its involvement was confirmed.
The stadium is “15 percent” built with four and a half years still to go, regional government head Vladimir Volkov said.
“The most important things in this process are acquiring the land, supplying communications,” he added. “We’ve got all of that already - the land’s been delimited, the foundations have been prepared.
“Because the stadium’s located on the River Insar’s flood plain, we’ve raised the ground level by four meters, not just for the stadium itself but for the whole residential district that will be near the arena.”
The Yubileiny stadium in Saransk will be reduced to a capacity of 28,000 after the tournament. The local Mordovia Saransk football team played in the Russian Premier League for the first time last year, but were relegated with average attendances of just 7,051.
Other host cities are far behind Saransk in their World Cup 2018 preparations, with many just beginning the design stage, including the planned rebuild of Moscow’s vast Luzhniki stadium, which will host the 2018 final.
