World Cup stadium construction: Russia is experiencing problems with the construction of two of the football stadia that will play host to the 2018 FIFA World Cup, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov admitted yesterday. One of the stadia in question is the 35,000 seat Baltika Arena in Kaliningrad which is due to be built on the Oktyabrsky Island, situated between two rivers that are prone to flooding. “The problems don’t just revolve around financing,” he said. “The soil there is causing a lot of problems and the most important thing for us is people’s safety.” The second stadium causing concern is the 45,000-seat arena that is to be built in Rostov-on-Don. Construction has not yet begun and he did not specify the nature of the problem, although there appears to be some bureaucratic hold-up. The Moscow Times