With Russia having completed its final planning for 2018 World Cup stadium build and construction underway, the current focus "is now switching towards budgets and planning for infrastructure around the championships."
The latest to announce its hosting plans is Yekaterinburg, which "has increased the capacity of its fan zone six-fold from 5-6,000 to 35,000."
The fan zone "will be located in Central Park and will have a 60sq m big screen showing matches as its focus" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 3/27). ... The new Miniestadi -- used by the club's youth teams -- that Barcelona is planning to construct "will be much smaller than the current one." The capacity will be reduced from 15,000 to 6,000 when the "current facility is taken down as part of the Espai Barça project." The new facility is "expected to be ready" for the '17-18 season. The project's cost is estimated to be €10M ($10.88M) (EL PERIÓDICO, 3/27). ... La Liga side Valencia will pay around €3M ($3.27M) for the demolition of the old Mestalla stadium and the removal of "thousands of tons of rubble that this will require." Per agreements with the Valencia city council, "this cost will have to be covered by the club" (SUPERDEPORTE, 3/29). ... Spanish fourth tier football club Alcobendas has renamed its stadium "in honour of legendary Coach Luis Aragones."
Aragones "spent his final years in the Madrid suburb before his eventual death from Leukemia last February, aged 75" (FOOTBALL ESPANA, 3/28).
