If you’re like most of the world right now, you’re probably watching the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It is unarguably one of the most anticipated sporting events in the world. Only a once-in-every-four-year occurrence, the hype surrounding keeps growing. But how do host countries handle it all? More specifically, how is Russia, this year’s host, managing now?
Being that this is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, Russia needed to be prepared. With hundreds of thousands of people coming into the country, here are some things that Russia is doing for FIFA 2018:
Transportation
With matches happening in a multiple cities around the country, transportation is something that is essential. Russia has provided all fans with a FAN ID free ground transportation for the duration of FIFA. This means free public transit in the hosting cities and intercity trains. The FAN ID is a pass that fans get when they buy their tickets and will serve as their VISA into the country and pass for entry to the stadiums in addition to free transportation. They receive this before entering the country when they purchase their tickets.
A detailed breakdown of Russia’s plans for transportation can be viewed here.
Housing
Russia made it one of their top priorities to have enough accommodation for fans. In preparation for the World Cup, they built over 100 new hotels. Looking for foreign investors to help fund this, they hope that this project will help with overall tourism. Popular tourist destinations like Moscow have suffered in the past with poor lodging for tourists.
Though the new influx is great for Russia’s growing tourism industry, there are still issues that the government has had to deal with. It has been reported that hundreds of hotels have been fined for hiking up their prices for the World Cup. One hotel was even reported to have increased its prices by 570% over the limit.
Overall Infrastructure
Infrastructure is one of the most important parts of an international event such as the World Cup. With so many people to manage, it is essential for any country hosting such a large scale event to have the proper means to keep everything under control. For FIFA 2018, Russia spent over $13 billion USD on infrastructure. Including new hotels in each of the participating cities, airport terminals were added to airports and hospitals were re-equipped. All this in anticipation for the World Cup.
In addition to these projects, Russia has put some thought into its network infrastructure, unlike Brazil in 2014. Being that we live in an increasingly digital world, free wifi will be provided in stadiums. Though many don’t have high hopes for this due to the sheer amount of people, it is still a step up from the last FIFA.
Conclusion
With this much going on, forecasting in logistics become crucial. From infrastructure to crowd control, with an event like this, it is important that things get handled properly. If not, consequences can be disastrous.
If you want to view the complete logistics breakdown of FIFA 2018, you can read this document here.
