Is Russia ready to host the 2018 World Cup?

A picture shows the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Nizhniy Novgorod on August 26, 2017.
Nizhny Novgorod will host several matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup football tournament. / AFP PHOTO / Mladen ANTONOV        (Photo credit should read MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/Getty Images)
Is Russia 2018's infrastructure ready?
02:52 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

World Cup will be held from 14 June - 15 July, 2018

New stadium being built in Nizhny Novgorod

Updating road and rail links is crucial

CNN  — 

Football fans will have their work cut out traveling between host cities at the 2018 World Cup.

The geography is vast, stretching almost 3,000 kilometers – from the city of Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave which meets the Baltic Sea, to Yekaterinburg, north of the Kazakh border.

To save money, many fans will be turning away from flights in favor of taking buses or Russia’s sleeper train services.

In Nizhny Novgorod, one of Russia’s oldest cities, construction is frantically underway to try and ensure – like many host cities – its outdated road and rail links are up to scratch to accommodate the influx of thousands of football fans.

The Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, as well as two others around the country, suffered serious damage during construction after a fire broke out in one of the stands.

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Sergey Pichushkin, the stadium’s project director, admits there have been setbacks but remains confident everything will be on schedule.

CNN International correspondent Fred Pleitgen visited the city to find out more. You can watch his report on the top of this page.