FIFA might be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late, but soccer’s governing body has still found the time to announce the stadium names for the venues at 2018’s World Cup Russia.
The names of eight of the venues, according to FIFA’s statement, make reference to the various cities in which the stadia are located. The four remaining locations pay homage to other “local cultural or football aspects.”
The Luzhniki Stadium will host the opening and final matches of the tournament, and owes its name to the district of Moscow in which it is situated. The other Moscow-based arena, Spartak Stadium, bears the name of the soccer club to which it belongs. The Mordovia Arena, located in Saransk, is named after the Republic of Mordovia – home to one of the larger indigenous groups in Russia. The Fisht stadium in Sochi is named after the mountain of the same name in the Caucasus – the arena’s silhouette resembles the mountain and, in the Adygeyan language, Fisht means white or grey head.
The remaining venues will be the Ekaterinburg Arena, the Kazan Arena, Kaliningrad Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Rostov Arena, Samara Arena, Saint Petersburg Stadium, and Volgograd Arena.
October 9, 2015
