79 replies to this topic

[RobH]

It's official:

Russia bids to host 2018 or 2022 World Cup

Russia is joining the race to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022, a senior official in the Russian Football Association (RFU) said on Friday.

"Yesterday we sent an official letter to FIFA informing them of our intentions to bid for the World Cup in 2018 or 2022," RFU general director Alexei Sorokin told Reuters.

Last week, FIFA president Sepp Blatter urged the Russians to enter the fray. "I definitely expect Russia to be a candidate," he told RFU chief Vitaly Mutko during his visit to Moscow.

Sorokin said his country had pinned its hopes on the 2018 tournament. "We feel that in 2018 the World Cup would be awarded to Europe," he said, naming England and a joint bid from Spain and Portugal as Russia's main competition.
FIFA has set a Feb. 2 deadline for potential bidders to formally express their interest. The successful bids will be announced in December 2010.

Spain and Portugal formalised their plan to bid together earlier this week, while Netherlands and Belgium also have a joint proposal. Other interested nations include England, the United States, China and Mexico.

[Lord David]

Well good luck to them comrades.

Ideally you want host cities and venues spread out the country showing the country's unity through sport and highlighting as well as providing sporting infrastructure to the football teams of the Russian football league. But of course, this can't ideally work. Aside from the travel times, distance and how to get there, you'd end up with like 8 venues in the Western side of Russia in 8 cities, 1 venue in Siberia or whatever it's capital is, then another in Vladivostok. If your really lucky, you might get another venue somewhere in the middle.
Sure you can group say Asian and North American teams to play in the east, but it's lopsided and eventually the seeding would dictate that they gotta travel west to face their next opponent.

But of course this won't work and you'd expect a Western region only bid, but much of the sentimentality is lost if you just focus on the European side of Russia.

[stryker]

If Russia was still together as the old USSR this would be a much stronger bid. I have said before had the USSR not collapsed, I think you would have seen the Russians hosting by now. Didn't they finish second to Italy in the race for the 1990 World Cup? Apart from the obvious stadiums such as Luzhiki in Moscow and the new Zenit in St. Petersburg the Russians would need at minimum of eight more stadiums to be a viable candidate. I think you would see most of them centered in in the Western half with Vladivostok or Kemerovo a possibility out east. Here would be my venues for a Russian World Cup.

Existing or planned stadiums
Moscow - Luzhniki Stadion
St. Petersurg - Zenit Stadion
Sochi - Olympic Stadium (40,000 all-seater to be built for 2014 Winter Olympics)

New Stadiums in the following cities
Kazan
Omsk
Rostov
Samara
Volgograd
Krasnodar
Vladivostok

Any thoughts?

[Filipe_Golias]

Sepp is dying to give it to Russia.

[Lord David]

stryker, on Feb 1 2009, 07:42 AM, said:

If Russia was still together as the old USSR this would be a much stronger bid. I have said before had the USSR not collapsed, I think you would have seen the Russians hosting by now. Didn't they finish second to Italy in the race for the 1990 World Cup? Apart from the obvious stadiums such as Luzhiki in Moscow and the new Zenit in St. Petersburg the Russians would need at minimum of eight more stadiums to be a viable candidate. I think you would see most of them centered in in the Western half with Vladivostok or Kemerovo a possibility out east. Here would be my venues for a Russian World Cup.

Existing or planned stadiums
Moscow - Luzhniki Stadion
St. Petersurg - Zenit Stadion
Sochi - Olympic Stadium (40,000 all-seater to be built for 2014 Winter Olympics)

New Stadiums in the following cities
Kazan
Omsk
Rostov
Samara
Volgograd
Krasnodar
Vladivostok

Any thoughts?

Vladivostok. There you go. Vladivostok wouldn't ideally work. It's just too far from Western Russia, where most of the host cities would be. It's like a 15 hour drive from Moscow to Vladivostok. Imagine having teams having to take a 7 hour flight from Vladivostok to Moscow just to get to their next game? A Western Russia only WC would work fine, but the ambiance, culture, unity and representation of all major Russian cities throughout the country is lost.

[FYI]

Filipe_Golias, on Jan 31 2009, 08:26 PM, said:

Sepp is dying to give it to Russia.

Like Samaranch dying to give the Olympics to China? Well, if there's any correlation, Blatter just might get his wish.

[Filipe_Golias]

FYI, on Feb 1 2009, 05:53 AM, said:

Like Samaranch dying to give the Olympics to China? Well, if there's any correlation, Blatter just might get his wish.

Beijing had to convince 50 IOC members or so. Russia only needs to do it with 12 people.

[faster]

Lord David, on Feb 1 2009, 12:20 AM, said:

Vladivostok. There you go. Vladivostok wouldn't ideally work. It's just too far from Western Russia, where most of the host cities would be. It's like a 15 hour drive from Moscow to Vladivostok. Imagine having teams having to take a 7 hour flight from Vladivostok to Moscow just to get to their next game? A Western Russia only WC would work fine, but the ambiance, culture, unity and representation of all major Russian cities throughout the country is lost.

Its a 7 day train ride between those cities and a 9 hour plane ride.

[Lord David]

PM Faster, on Feb 2 2009, 11:35 PM, said:

Its a 7 day train ride between those cities and a 9 hour plane ride.

Ah right, the dudes that drove from Moscow to Vladivostok went 15,000 km. But the point still remains, the sheer distance would make it unwise to have Vladivostok as a host city.

[faster]

stryker, on Jan 31 2009, 03:42 PM, said:

If Russia was still together as the old USSR this would be a much stronger bid. I have said before had the USSR not collapsed, I think you would have seen the Russians hosting by now. Didn't they finish second to Italy in the race for the 1990 World Cup? Apart from the obvious stadiums such as Luzhiki in Moscow and the new Zenit in St. Petersburg the Russians would need at minimum of eight more stadiums to be a viable candidate. I think you would see most of them centered in in the Western half with Vladivostok or Kemerovo a possibility out east. Here would be my venues for a Russian World Cup.

Existing or planned stadiums
Moscow - Luzhniki Stadion
St. Petersurg - Zenit Stadion
Sochi - Olympic Stadium (40,000 all-seater to be built for 2014 Winter Olympics)

New Stadiums in the following cities
Kazan
Omsk
Rostov
Samara
Volgograd
Krasnodar
Vladivostok

Any thoughts?

I would include Novosibirsk, Russia's third largest city.