POSTED: Monday August 16th 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIFA INSPECTION DELEGATION HAS ARRIVED IN RUSSIA, BEGINS TOUR IN ST. PETERSBURG, "READY TO INSPECT"

Bid for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup - Visit of the FIFA Inspection Group, 16 to 19 August 2010

St. Petersburg, 16 August 2010 - The FIFA Inspection Delegation to assess the Russian Bid for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ has today arrived in St. Petersburg for their four-day visit of Russia and is according to its head “ready to inspect”.

The group, led by Harold Mayne-Nicholls of Chile, was welcomed at St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport by Bid Committee Chairman Vitaly Mutko, who is also Russia’s Minister for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy, the President of the Russian Football Union (RFU), Sergei Fursenko, and Bid CEO, Alexey Sorokin.

Minister Mutko who, like RFU President Fursenko, hails from St. Petersburg, was delighted to welcome the FIFA Inspection Group to his home town and to Russia: “The essence of this visit is to go to four cities of our bid, which are St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan and Sochi, in order to see on site what we have written in our Bid Book and to check again the facts and numbers we have given. This will allow us to demonstrate Russia’s and the cities’ capabilities. We are determined and willing to host the FIFA World Cup™ and able to fulfil the requirements. We are looking forward to a good and fruitful visit.”

Speaking on behalf of the FIFA President and General Secretary, Harold Mayne-Nicholls stated: “Our team is very happy to be here in your country during four days for a learning process. We will be pleased and honoured to visit the four cities to be inspected. We will be asking for all the information necessary for an objective and realistic report which will be submitted to the members of the FIFA Executive Committee.  We are ready to inspect.”

From the airport, the inspection group travelled on to Smolny Palace, St. Petersburg’s City Hall, for a presentation on the Host City. A total of six experts make up the group. Harold Mayne-Nicholls, who is the President of the Chile FA, is accompanied by Dr Danny Jordaan, the CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee, FIFA’s Head of Event Management Jürgen Müller, David Fowler (FIFA Marketing), FIFA Media Officer Wolfgang Eichler and FIFA Competitions Division representative Julio Avellar.

The schedule for the opening day will also include a visit to the construction site of the FIFA World Cup™ Stadium Saint Petersburg, a walk on iconic Palace Square that has been selected as a Fan Fest Site and a tour of Mariinsky Theatre, which is foreseen as the venue for the Preliminary Draw. The day will be concluded with a dinner hosted by the government of St. Petersburg at the historical Yusupov palace.

On Tuesday, 17 August, the inspection tour will continue in Moscow, followed by visits to Kazan and Sochi on Wednesday, 18 August and back to Moscow on Thursday, 19 August, from where the FIFA Inspection Group will return to Zurich in the early afternoon. Thus, the group will see four of the 13 proposed Host Cities and 16 stadiums.

Russia is the fifth of the total of nine bids and the sixth of 11 countries that the FIFA Inspection Delegation will be visiting in the course of two months. The inspection is a fact-finding mission serving to review on site and deepen FIFA’s understanding regarding the respective candidatures.
The experts will subsequently draw up a comprehensive report to be submitted to the FIFA Executive Committee that will designate the host countries of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups at a special meeting at the headquarters of the world governing body of football in Zurich on 2 December 2010.

Note to the editors:  Video footage of the visit will be made available via public broadcaster ORT. Still pictures will be downloadable from the bid website at: http://www.russia2018-2022.com

For more information:
Russia Bid Committee for the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™
Julia Cooper, Communications Manager
Phone:  +7 495 660 49 80 /Mail: mail@russia2018-2022.com

Andreas Herren, International Media Coordinator
Mobile:  +41 (79) 799 0046 / Mail: media@russia2018-2022.com

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Keywords · Russia 2018 2022 · Alexey Sorokin · FIFA World Cup

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Name: Julia Cooper
Organization: Russia 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup(TM) Bid Committee
Email:
Phone: +7 495 660 49 80
URL: http://www.russia2018-2022.com

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