2018 FIFA World Cup

The 2018 FIFA World Cup was an international football competition contested from 14 June to 15 July 2018 by the national men's teams competing in Russia. This was the 21st FIFA World Cup, an international match that was held around the world once every four years. This was the eleventh time they contested the European championships, the first in Eastern Europe. This has been the most expensive World Cup to date, at an estimated expense of more than $14.2 billion. The finals featured 32 players, 31 of which came from qualification events, while Russia was selected as the host country automatically. Among the 32, 20 had already taken part in the 2014 case while Iceland and Panama had made their first appearances in the World Cup. A total of 64 matches took place at twelve stadiums across 11 cities. Germany had been defending champions but were eliminated in the group round. Host country Russia was eliminated in the quarter-finals. France defeated Croatia in the July 15 final at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. In order to win a second World Cup, France won match 4–2. The festival has received a number of accolades. Croatian player Luka Modrić has been named best player in the competition to win the Golden Ball. Thibaut Courtois had earned the Golden Glove awarded to the goalkeeper with most clean sheets. The festival was commended for the quality of the case but criticized for being a distraction from drug allegations and public relations within Russia. The estimated game attendance during the tournament, with over 3 million participants. Russia suggests the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, St Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Ekaterinburg. With the exception of Ekaterinburg, which is situated very close to the border between Europe and Asia, each city was situated in European Russia, in the vast country, with any travel period for the teams. The bid evaluation report stated: "The Russian plan suggests 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thereby satisfying FIFA's minimum requirements. Three of the 16 stadiums will be renovated, and 13 will be newly built." In October 2011, Russia dropped the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. The regional government canceled the building of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow city, and Otkritie Arena clashed with Dynamo Stadium, which was to be constructed first, in the capital too. The final list of host cities was revealed on 29 September 2012. The number of towns also fell to 11, and as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl the number of stadiums dropped from the final list to 12. For the 12 stadiums in the tournament, 3 were fully renovated, and the other 9 stadiums to be used are brand new; $11.8 billion was spent on hosting the event. This has been the most expensive World Cup in history, at an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion as of June 2018, surpassing the 2014 FIFA World Cup loss in Brazil. The Russian government originally accepted a $20 billion budget that was eventually cut to $10 billion for World Cup preparations, half of which is spent on transportation infrastructure. With a total budget of 352.5 billion rubles, 170.3 billion coming from the federal government, 35.1 billion coming from the state budgets and 147.1 billion coming from donors, a federal sub-committee "Development and Reconstruction of Transport Infrastructure" was initiated as part of the 2018 FIFA World Cup preparation programme. Aviation program was the main portion of federal spending. Development of new hotels in World Cup host cities has been a key area for progress of infrastructure. As preparations were in progress, spending continued to ballon.