Thing are Starting to Come Together: World Cup 2018 Russia

Thing are Starting to Come Together: World Cup 2018 Russia

The organisation committee for Russian WC2018 have released some information about ticketing, and on the whole it looks positive. The ticket prices are very similar to those of the matches in Brazil last time out. There will be Individual / Team Specific / Venue Specific ticket series, which is the same as for the past 3 or 4 World Cups. The only less-than positive news is that the sales dates for the tickets will not be announced until after the 2017 Confederations Cup, which doesn’t finish until early July in 2017. This is not necessarily a big problem, but it just condenses the period over which we will need to be on high alert for buying tickets online.

Ticket Prices ($USD)  CAT 1     CAT 2     CAT 3

Opening Match               550         390        220

Group Matches               210         165        105

Round of 16                   245         185        115

Quarters Finals               365         255        175

Semi's  Finals                 750         480        285

3rd/4th Place                 365         255        175

Final                            1100         710        455

I am still favouring the 2 or 3 location approach, but after the recent coup attempt, Turkey has dropped off my radar. I have taken a look at some places in Finland, close to the Russian boarder, where there are some very nice looking summer houses in that area.  I have also looked at Moscow given that it has 2 stadiums and 12 games in total, and as both of the Moscow stadiums are on the outer western side of the city, (Luzhniki Stadium to the SW & Spartak Stadium to the NW), this opens up a huge swathe of the Russian countryside within a few hours drive… 

So what am I thinking…?

We fly into Helsinki around 8-10th June, rent a car, and drive a couple of 100 km’s to stay somewhere close to Lappeenranta and the Russian boarder. Having a car allows us to travel around this unique & scenic part of Finland when there are no games to attend. To get to St. Petersburg we can either drive the 230 kms (3hrs+ each way), or we can catch a high speed train to St. Petersburg from Vainikkala for match-days, choosing to stay the night in the city for the

late games. If we stayed in Finland until 29th June, this would allow us to see 4 Group games, (2 afternoon, 2 evening) in St Petersburg. On or around the 29th June, we either fly or take the high speed train to Moscow, and stay through to around the 16th July, (18 nights), staying at an apartment or hotel, allowing us

to attend a maximum of 4 further games, (including the final). This approach gives us a chance to attend 8 games including the final. Alternatively, we reverse the locations, stay in Moscow first, and then head to Finland for the later stages, that increases the number of possible games to 12.

The same sort of approach could be taken by flying into Talin in Estonia, staying somewhere in the east of Estonia, and  travelling to St. Petersburg for the group stage games, before transferring to Moscow for the latter half of the tournament. The transport infrastructure is not quite so well established in Estonia, so travelling might be a bit more arduous.

Still mulling around a few idea’s so nothing is set in stone, and I am open to persuasion on any other suggestions I get. More news to come.