Bid to bring World Cup to the provinces

World Cup 2018: Russia officially launched its ambitious bid to host the football World Cup in 2018 or 2022 with a promise to build top-class stadiums in 15 cities.

The bid's organisers have created what they call a "compact" proposal from such a vast nation, with all venues within 2,000 km.

However, of the 15 cities involved, only Moscow currently has a suitable stadium. St. Petersburg, Sochi and Kazan are building new arenas at present, while the likes of Kaliningrad, Podolsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Saransk, Samara, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar are far from having the type of 40,000-seater modern stadium required.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko also claimed that Sochi, which is due to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, could have a top-flight football team in 2013. Local side Zhemchuzhina currently lead the second division, southern region, where their last home game attracted 2,000 fans.

World governing body FIFA is expected to make a final decision on who will host the tournaments in 2018 and 2022 on December 10. England, Australia and a joint Spanish-Portuguese bid are among the favourites.

 

New coach, same old Dinamo

Hockey: Dinamo's new coach, Andrei Khomutov, is waiting on defensive reinforcements as he attempts to pull the under-performing side out of its early-season slump.

His first match in charge brought an encouraging 4-2 win over Traktor Chelyabinsk, but Saturday's trip to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg saw Dinamo once again throw away a lead and go down 3-1.

After the win in Chelyabinsk he praised the team's class and character, but added that there were no other candidates to play in a defence which has been all too easily breached this season, according to dynamo.ru.

Meanwhile, Sunday's Moscow derby saw CSKA beat Spartak 4-2 with goals from Denis Parshin, Mark Hartigan,  Dmitry Sayustov and Alexander Suglobov.

Spartak hit back with second-period strikes from Eduard Levandovsky and Dmitry Upper, but they missed out on the chance to cement second place in the Western Conference.

This week's games see CSKA host MVD on Tuesday (7:30 pm) before hitting the road to Salavat Yulayev (Saturday) and Barys (Monday). Dinamo host SKA St. Petersburg on Thursday (7:30 pm) and Spartak travel to Torpedo Nizhny and Dinamo Minsk before hosting Atlant Mytshchi on Monday (7:30 pm).

 

Moscow ready to host World Champs

Bandy: Moscow is set to host the 2010 Bandy World Championships after Finland pulled out of holding the event, Sovietsky Sport reports. The games will be played from January 24-31 at the Krylatskoye ice arena, home to Russia's strongest side Dinamo Moscow. The sport of bandy, which resembles a cross between field hockey and ice hockey, is most widely played in Siberia and Scandinavia.