The Belarusian government said that "it has earmarked funds to provide Dinamo Minsk with a new stadium by the end of 2019." The new arena "will have a capacity of 25,000."
Belarus "has various plans to increase the number of major sports events it hosts as part of a strategy to increase and improve the country's international profile." Maxim Rizhenkov, an advisor to the Belarusian president for sports and physical culture, said that the upgrading and expanding of sports facilities "has become a priority for the government." The costs of the latest project "have not been disclosed" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 2/4). ... The Rostov regional construction ministry said that the 2018 World Cup stadium in the southern Russian city of Rostov "is seven months behind schedule and faces a 'tight deadline' to be ready in time." The completion date for the 45,000-seat stadium "has slipped from May 2017 to that December." The ministry "did not specify what had gone wrong," but said, "Taking into account the tight deadline for the construction of the stadium, a double-shift work schedule has been organized" (AP, 2/4).
