June 17, 2013. More than 660bn RUR will be allocated to coordinate and host the world football championship of 2018 in Yekaterinburg; 336bn RUR out of this sum will be directed from the federal budget, Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev said at a government meeting. He stressed that this money should be spent ‘in the most efficient and transparent way possible’, Finmarket refers to the official as saying.

32 national football teams and about 1m supporters are expected to arrive at the event. Medvedev pointed out that in terms of the number of visitors, the World Cup will be ‘a much larger scale event than the Olympics’.

‘The TV broadcasts will reach if not 50% then at least a third of the world’s population,’ he said.

According to the Vice Premier, the experience of holding the Sochi Olympics 2014 and the Kazan University Olympics should be taken into account when holding the World Cup 2018.