Following successful inspections of the Zenit Arena in St Petersburg on Thursday (October 16) and the Kazan Arena on Friday (October 17), the Russian news agency TASS reported the view of Unger, who stressed the importance of the first of eight planned visits before the competition begins.

The inspection team includes 40 experts from FIFA, the Russia 2018 Local Organising Committee and Arena-2018, the body tasked with monitoring and tracking the design and construction of the stadiums for the tournament.

They are carrying out inspections in areas of designing and building stadiums, preparing and operating competitions, security, transport, logistics, hospitality services, broadcasting, media operations, medical control, staff performance, and marketing and ticketing programmes.

The Fisht Olympic Stadium, named after Mount Fisht, was built for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games and is located in the Sochi Olympic Park.

During the World Cup, it is due to seat 47,659 spectators.

The Fisht Olympic Stadium was built for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games ©Getty Images



Unger claimed he had no doubt that the Zenit Arena, which is due to hold 70,000 fans, will be ready in May 2016 as scheduled.

Zenit St Petersburg's new retractable-roof stadium, estimated at costing $1.3 billion (£800 million/€1 billion), has come under fire over the past 18 months for violations to construction regulations.

The project has also been criticised for rising costs and building delays.

Unger was also very complimentary of the Kazan Arena, the newly-built 45,000 seater stadium, which opened in 2013 and hosted the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of last year's Summer Universiade.

Moscow's Spartak Stadium and Luzhniki Stadium, due to stage the opening match and the final, will be inspected today and Monday (October 20), while a three-day virtual inspections of the remaining stadiums are due to take place from Tuesday (October 21).

Meanwhile, Russia 2018 has announced they will unveil the official emblem of the tournament at a ceremony in Moscow on October 28.

"The emblem is the visual representation of the tournament," said Vitaly Mutko, chairman of Russia 2018.

"Winning the right to host the FIFA World Cup was a dream come true for millions of Russians.

"To creatively capture the essence of this remarkable, historic moment, inspiration was drawn from both Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation."

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