After spending an estimated $51 billion to host the 2014 Olympics, Russia has budgeted nearly $12 billion more for the 2018 World Cup. As a result, it's expected to be the most expensive World Cup in history.
With 12 stadiums across 11 host cities – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Saransk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, and Ekaterinbur — Russia has had to build several new venues from scratch and renovate many others.
While construction is still ongoing, Russian representatives have said all stadiums will be completed by 2017. With three years to go, a lot of work is still to be done.
*All figures based on exchange rates as of July 2015.
Russia plans to spend $3.6 billion on World Cup stadiums alone.
Source: WSJ
They're building eight stadiums from scratch, including one in Nizhny Novgorod.
Source: Yahoo/Reuters
However, construction hasn't gone beyond excavation and concrete work.
Source: Russia Beyond The Headlines
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