Luzhniki Stadium to stage 2018 World Cup final
Reuters - Friday 14 December 2012, 14:00
Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium has been confirmed as the venue for the 2018
World Cup final, FIFA said in a statement on Friday.
The
Luzhniki, which has a 90,000 capacity, will also stage the opening
match and a semi-final following approval by FIFA's executive committee.
St Petersburg will stage the other semi-final.
Moscow,
St Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi were approved as venues for the 2017
Confederations Cup, also to be held in Russia, FIFA said.
In
a separate decision, Kosovo, which is not a FIFA member, was given
permission to play friendly matches at "youth, amateur, women's and club
football" level.
However, no
mention was made of a decision on Kosovo playing friendly
internationals at senior level against FIFA member nations.
FIFA
had agreed in principle to allow Kosovo to play friendlies last May
but, following opposition from Serbia and UEFA President Michel Platini,
has delayed implementation of the ruling.
The
delays have angered the Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) which says
it is only seeking the right to play friendly internationals, not become
members of FIFA.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 but has not yet won recognition from the United Nations.
FIFA and UEFA statutes state that only nations recognised by the UN can be accepted as members.
Moscow's
Luzhniki uses an artificial pitch because of the frigid Russian winters
although a natural pitch was laid for the 2008 Champions League final,
staged at the stadium.
Eleven
Russian cities will host the 2018 World Cup with Moscow having two
venues. The other cities are St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhny
Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Rostov, Sochi, Saransk and
Yekaterinburg.