Luzhniki Stadium to host 2018 World Cup Final

PARIS: Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium will host the opening match in the 2018 World Cup as well as the final and one semi-final, the FIFA executive committee confirmed on Friday.

The other semi-final will be held in Saint Petersburg.

The Luzhniki was built in 1956 and has already hosted the 2008 Champions League final and the Summer Olympic Games in 1980.

It currently has a capacity of more than 78,000 but will be renovated or pulled down and entirely rebuilt after the World Athletics Championships in 2013 in time for the World Cup.

The Confederations Cup, held in Russia the year before the World Cup in 2017, will be played at stadia in Kazan, Sochi and Saint Petersburg, all of which will feature World Cup matches, as well as the Spartak Moscow ground.

Sochi is host to the 2014 Winter Olympics and Kazan the 2013 World Student Games.

Source: AFP