2018 FIFA World Cup heading to Russia: A catalyst for modernization?

Following months of intensive campaigning, Russia’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup was successful Thursday in voting at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich. This will be first time the World Cup - the largest global sporting event with several million fans attending and a cumulative TV audience of around 26 billion - will be held in Eastern Europe. Russia’s vision for the tournament, which defeated strong proposals from established football markets such as England and Spain-Portugal, includes the exciting prospect of developing the sport in Russia and throughout the region.

2018 FIFA World Cup and Russia’s modernization

With the World Cup following just four years after the Winter Olympics are to be held in Sochi, how will the tournament align with Russia’s modernization objectives? Commenting in the build-up to the FIFA vote, Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Securities, said, “Winning the right to stage the World Cup would provide a major boost to both the Russian economy and also would provide a huge incentive for the government to push ahead with plans to rebuild the country’s infrastructure.”

World Cup success sets a “timeline for modernization” said Weafer. The tournament requires not only the construction of sporting venues, but a guarantee of investment in hotels and leisure facilities, airports and other transport infrastructure, and communications and power supply across a huge part of the country. “No doubt about it, while the cost would likely run into the tens of billions, 2018 FIFA World Cup would inject a great deal more urgency – and a stricter timeline - into the government’s modernization program,” added Weafer.

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Infrastructure development: “mind boggling” dividends

Plans to host the tournament are vast in scale. A total of 16 stadiums will be utilised, 13 of which will be newly constructed in cities stretching from Kaliningrad to Yekaterinburg beyond the Ural Mountains.  As FIFA commended in its bid evaluation report, Russia “aims to maximize exposure” for visitors by geographic clustering of host cities. The plan for developing sporting, transport and telecommunications infrastructure in preparation for the massive influx of fans is impressive and ambitious.

Star player and Russian national team captain Andrei Arshavin expects the World Cup to bring a “human legacy” that will last generations, both in football and society as a whole. ''There is a 'new Russia' in the making. Twenty years after the former Soviet Union ceased to exist we are in the process of shaping a new country and its new and future generations,” he said.

“Modern football is a whole industry. It includes complex infrastructure, such as top stadiums, rehabilitation centers and training bases, as well as sports gear and equipment, to say nothing of advertising and TV rights,” First Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov commented in a Goldman Sachs report prior to this summer’s tournament in South Africa. “Intensive development of football infrastructure will act as a huge boost to both regional and national economic development.”

While the investment in preparing for the event is clearly considerable, the potential dividends for the economy and society are – in Arshavin’s words – “mind boggling.”

Will Russia’s success in Zurich prove a major boost for modernization efforts? Please let us know your thoughts.