Press Conference of D. Svatkovsky on Preparation for the World Cup 2018

“The intake of volunteers for the World Cup in Nizhny Novgorod starts in the second quarter of this year,” Dmitry Svatkovsky says.

According to the Deputy Governor, they expect to prepare 1.5 thousand volunteers in the region for the work at the sports facilities of the World Football Cup.

A press conference of Dmitry Svatkovsky, the Deputy Governor, dedicated to the preparation of the Nizhny Novgorod Region for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia took place in Nizhny Novgorod on February 2, 2016.

The Deputy Governor reported that the intake of volunteers in Nizhny Novgorod on the basis of the Volunteer Center of the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod starts in the second quarter of this year. “We must prepare a total of 1.5 thousand volunteers in Nizhny Novgorod for the Organising Committee; they will work at sports facilities of the region, namely: the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, sports centers, training grounds and others. We expect to see among them not only students, but also working people, the older generation, foreigners and disabled people,” Dmitry Svatkovsky said.

“Staging the tournament means not only the development of the infrastructure, but also the opportunity for Nizhny Novgorod residents to show their best qualities, acquire some knowledge, for example, learn a foreign language, familiarise themselves with foreign cultures. How much festive the atmosphere in the city will be on the days of the World Cup largely depends on the volunteers,” the Deputy Governor noted.

Furthermore, the ambassadors of the host city Nizhny Novgorod were announced at the press conference. “The ambassadors of our city are Denis Cheryshev, the footballer of the Russian team, who played for Real Madrid, his father Dmitry Cheryshev, who also played in the past for the national team and is the ex-instructor of the football club (FC) Volga. The remarkable thing is that Dmitry and Denis Cheryshev is the only “father-son” tandem who played for the Russian team. Moreover, we are negotiating with Natalia Vodianova,” Dmitry Svatkovsky said.

According to the Deputy Governor, the ambassador fosters the promotion of Nizhny Novgorod, represents the city at various events, participates in advertisement campaigns and charitable actions.

Describing the changes in the infrastructure, Dmitry Svatkovsky noted that 1,150 workers have been engaged in the construction of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium so far, and the works are proceeding according to the schedule. “Let me remind you that at the end of 2015, following the results of the “Sports Facilities” award, organised with the support of the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation, experts acknowledged the project of the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium to be “The best football stadium project for the World Cup 2018”. The expert community appears to have considered our stadium to meet the highest world standards in terms of architecture, cost, operation, future utilisation under the “Legacy” program,” Mr. Svatkovsky mentioned.

“Recently, FIFA has approved the list of pre-match training grounds. Therefore, a sports cluster will be built in Nizhny Novgorod, in Meschera district, including two pre-match training grounds in Karla Marksa street alongside with a sports and recreation center, the
Meschera sports complex and the stadium. The Lokomotiv Stadium that will be reconstructed is the third ground. There are a total of three grounds where the teams participating in the World Cup will be able to have their training sessions shortly before matches. As I said before, after the tournament the grounds will be made over to sports schools,” the Deputy Governor said.

Dmitry Svatkovsky also reported on the results of the poll that was held in May 2015 among Nizhny Novgorod residents in the context of the campaign “Creating the mascot together!”. One thousand people were polled over three days. Answers of Nizhny Novgorod residents to the question “Which team and its fans would you like to see in Nizhny Novgorod first of all?” split as follows: Russia and Spain – 16%, Brazil – 14%, Germany – 12%, England – 7%, Argentina – 5%.

Besides, a stamped postal card of the host city was memorably cancelled in the course of the event. The postal card will be issued in the number of 30 thousand pieces. The participants of the ceremony were Dmitry Svatkovsky, Sergey Panov, the Minister of Sport of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and Vladimir Afanasyev, the President of Privolzhye Interregional Football Union and the veteran of FC Volga.

Let us recall that Nizhny Novgorod will host 6 matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, including quarter-final. According to the FIFA poll, 83% of Nizhny Novgorod residents support the tournament in Nizhny Novgorod – it is the highest indicator among all the 11 host cities.

As the head of the region earlier said, the preparation for the 2018 World Cup in Nizhny Novgorod includes the construction of a football stadium and sports centers, the reconstruction of the airport, the improvement of the road-and-transportation infrastructure, the construction of a new underground station. “All this will become the post-World Cup legacy and will serve Nizhny Novgorod residents for many years,” Valery Shantsev noted.