Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that the nation’s 12 World Cup venues should be mainly used for soccer, not transformed into concert halls or exhibition centers.
Speaking at a meeting of government and sports officials at the World Cup stadium in Kaliningrad, Putin said that the government would financially support World Cup venues for another five years to ensure that they can operate independently by 2024.
“You mention exhibitions, concerts, tourism and a commercial space. That’s alright, the stadium needs to be full,” Putin told Kaliningrad Governor Anton Alikhanov. “But ideally, we need to strive for every stadium to have a team and every team to have a stadium. Otherwise, it will not be a stadium. It will be a concert hall.”
When Russia won the right to host the World Cup, Putin pledged that the stadiums built would become the homes to vibrant soccer clubs.
Out of the 12 stadiums used at the World Cup, only six were fully new and commissioned for the tournament, while others were renovated or being built anyway. Six of the 12 stadiums are home to Russian Premier League clubs and there are plans to make another into the national soccer stadium.
In some of Russia’s World Cup cities, ensuring that stadiums remain full and financially sustainable can prove to be a challenge.
Kaliningrad has a new 35,000-seat stadium, but its local soccer team play in Russia’s second tier.
The use of some of the venues remains unclear, leading Putin to ask Russian Minister of Sport Pavel Kolobkov to present a plan for the future of every stadium and training pitch built for the World Cup.
“This needs to be concrete and not only general wishes,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia was interested in expanding the use of the fan-ID.
Russian World Cup organizing committee CEO Alexei Sorokin said the tournament had given a boost to local business, with tourists spending about 100 billion roubles (US$1.58 billion).
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was