Business publication RBC reported the actual total cost for the World Cup will be £10.7B.GETTY IMAGES
Russia "earmarked" an extra £9.8M ($12.8M) to fund the World Cup, which was "already expected to be the most expensive football tournament in history," according to Alec Luhn of the London TELEGRAPH. The country allocated an additional 481.6M rubles ($7.65M) for "temporary World Cup infrastructure" and 334.2M rubles ($5.31M) for "stadium and training base maintenance," according to decrees published on a government website. Russia's federal government has already spent more than £8.9B ($11.65B) on the tournament, which is taking place in 11 cities. That amount was "slightly higher than Brazil's official spend on the 2014 World Cup." But business publication RBC reported this month that the actual cost for Russia would be £10.7B ($14B) "after factoring in the money spent by regional governments." These provincial expenditures included road renovations, extra security such as Cossack guards and small modifications such as adding English-language road signs (TELEGRAPH, 6/27).
