March 24, 2014. A walking tour of the would-be fan zone for the world football championship of 2018 was coordinated in Yekaterinburg recently. The zone will be 1.5 hectares big and is large enough to host 5,000 to 7,000 people. The site will probably be ready by the beginning of summer. A 60-square-meter screen (Russia’s biggest) will be installed there, the city news portal says.

‘Yekaterinburg will host the World Cup matches in 2018, so this year the Mid-Urals’ capital can have a rehearsal of sorts. The rehearsal will consist in creating a fan zone in our Central Culture & Leisure Park as soon as this summer, and this fan zone will actually host all the local supporters of the World Cup 2014 in Brazil,’ the portal states.

The walking tour was guided by Director of Urals’ Capital Anna Baychibayeva and the Director of Central Culture & Leisure Park Vladimir Chermeninov. The area of the future fan zone is 1.5 hectares, and it will probably be ready by June. Project design in now in progress, and as soon as the snow melts away, the project will start becoming a reality. Under this project, the supporters will approach the fan zone through a special hall to a meeting point from which two flows will be directed towards the entrance and towards the exit. The site will have a stage, food courts, sponsors’ stands, and a photo shoot backdrop/wall. To ensure safety, a see-through, two-meter high fence will be put up around the zone.