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WORLD CUP 2018/ 2020 BIDDING: How the host nations match up

Fri Dec 03 2010 - 00:00

WORLD CUP 2018/ 2020 BIDDING:How the host nations match up

Russia

Capital:Moscow

Population:141,945,966

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Size:6,592,800 sq miles

Currency:Ruble

Best footballing moment:Winning the first European championship in 1960.

Best-known footballers: Too many to mention, but Lev Yashin, who played in three World Cups and was named by Fifa as the greatest goalkeeper of the 20th century, and Rinat Dasayev, who also played in three World Cups and was voted the world’s best goalkeeper in 1986, stand out. Forward Andrey Arshavin is the country’s best-known player of the modern era.

Previous World Cup performances:Nine appearances, including seven as the Soviet Union, reaching the semi-finals in 1966.

Main stadium for 2018:Luzhniki Stadium. 80,000-capacity but could be expanded to 90,000 with Kirov Stadium in St Petersburg (under construction, proposed 62,000) among 15 being considered.

Best points: Hosting the tournament will open up the once-isolated country to hundreds of thousands of foreigners for the first time with the Russian government promising to drop entry-visa requirements for players, officials and fans with valid tickets.

Number of clubs:More than 100,000 at all levels, of which nearly 100 are professional.

Fifa World Ranking:13th

Trivia fact:Oleg Salenko scored five goals in a single match at the 1994 finals, a record that still stands. Salenko helped his side – playing as Russia for the first time since the break-up of the Soviet Union – to beat Cameroon 6-1 in the group stage, but the team still went out. Salenko shared the golden boot for top scorer with Bulgaria's Hristo Stoichkov.

Qatar

Capital:Doha

Population:1,696,563

Size:4,416 sq miles

Currency:Riyal

Best footballing moment:Winning the Gulf Cup in 1992 and 2004 when Qatar also staged both tournaments.

Best-known footballers:Khalfan Ibrahim, the first Qatari to win the Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year award in 2007. At 18, he was the youngest player to win it.

Previous World Cup performances:Qatar have never qualified for the World Cup finals.

Main stadium for 2022:The ultra-modern Lusail Stadium, which will host the opening match and final. The air-conditioned stadium, which would have a capacity of 86,000, will take four years to build, be expected to be completed by 2019 and will be surrounded by water.

Best points:Money is no object for the gas-rich Gulf Arab state, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, whose economy is expected to soar a staggering 21 per cent in 2011.

An event staged in Qatar is likely to do well commercially because of the time zone (three hours ahead of Ireland), with the largest spectator audiences coming from Europe, South America and Asia.

Legacy point:All of Qatar's stadiums will be partly dismantled after the finals, with the extra seating shipped to developing nations who could reconstruct them as smaller stadiums for their own use, a plus for developing football globally, bid organisers said.The country will spend over €2.25 billion to build nine new stadiums and renovate three others.

Number of clubs:18 professional clubs and a number of junior clubs.

Fifa World Ranking:113.