Questions and answers 100 days before the start of the World Cup

What's up? On Tuesday it will be exactly 100 days until the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The hosts will face Saudi Arabia in the opening game on June 14th. The final will take place on July 15th in Moscow. How are the preparations going? Organizationally, Russia seems ready for the World Cup. The stadiums in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi have already been successfully tested at the Confed Cup, and the eight other arenas are or will be ready in time for the start of the World Cup. When it comes to security, the situation has currently calmed down somewhat. At least in the Confederations Cup, the host's concept worked and there were no incidents. Is there a risk of excessive violence from hooligans? However, that cannot be ruled out. Hooligan groups in England, Russia and occasionally Germany have started rattling sabers on the Internet. Most recently, around 200 violent Spartak Moscow supporters fought a street battle with the police and opposing fans at the Europa League game in Bilbao. How are ticket sales going? Overall good. The Russian fans were a bit hesitant at first, but are now apparently slowly getting World Cup fever. In total, FIFA reported 4,9 million ticket requests at the halfway point of the second sales phase at the end of January. German fans are particularly keen on tickets. With 338.414 requests, they took second place in the ranking behind the hosts (around 2,5 million). Is the video evidence coming? Almost certainly, yes. After the International Football Association Board's decision to include video evidence in football regulations, all that remains is for the FIFA Council to approve a World Cup appearance on March 16th. This is considered a formality. What prospects does Germany have? No matter what happens before the start of the World Cup: the defending champion is once again one of the hottest contenders for the crown. Even if national coach Joachim Löw expects a particularly fierce title fight ("Germany will be hunted like never before"), the DFB team is one of the closest favorites alongside Brazil, France, Spain and Argentina. The group stage with Mexico, Sweden and South Korea is tricky, but shouldn't be a problem. The Confed Cup triumph of a promising team and the title at the U21 European Championship in the summer of 2017 also showed that the foundation is right. What is the mood of the host? The slowly increasing anticipation for the World Cup tournament is clouded by the gloomy sporting outlook. In the world rankings, Russia ranks 61st, behind countries such as Panama, Jamaica and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The hosts failed in the preliminary round of the Confed Cup and there is no hope of improvement. Especially since the Russian league has been left behind in terms of sport and, according to Vladimir Leonschenko, president of the players' union, "practically bankrupt". What else is happening in the country? On March 18, Russia will elect its head of state. Incumbent Vladimir Putin will be re-elected president and will use the World Cup, like the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, as a propaganda tool. The economic situation is basically devastating, also because Russia is still suffering from the EU sanctions and counter-sanctions in the wake of the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula. The World Cup budget, officially estimated at ten billion euros, is likely to rise to 30 billion euros due to the many construction projects worth millions, the financing of which is usually deliberately concealed. What impact does the Russian state doping scandal have? For several months there have been persistent reports that Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov has evidence of doping in Russian football. The McLaren report mentions 34 cases - including the entire Russian 2014 World Cup squad. In Russia these rumors are treated calmly. At least the internationally controversial Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko resigned from his position as head of the World Cup OC in 2017 after the International Olympic Committee banned him for life as a key figure in the scandal surrounding the home Winter Games. He wants to suspend his office as President of the Russian Football Association RFU for six months. (SID)

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Questions and answers 100 days before the start of the World Cup

The most important questions about the World Cup are answered here.

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