Another city on the Volga river, in another republic. Kazan is the most known of the unknown Russian host cities to me, but only because of their football team Rubin Kazan.
Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan. Like the Republic of Mordovia it has it's own constitution but it's relationship with the Russian Federation is quite complex, and almost beyond my scope of political understanding. What I can say is that in 1994, "the Treaty On Delimitation of Jurisdictional Subjects and Mutual Delegation of Authority between the State Bodies of the Russian Federation and the State Bodies of the Republic of Tatarstan and Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan (On Delimitation of Authority in the Sphere of Foreign Economic Relations) were signed. The power-sharing agreement was renewed on July 11, 2007, though with much of the power delegated to Tatarstan reduced". (wikipedia). There was an attempt at a declaration of independence in 2008, but it was ignored by the UN and Russia.
What I do know is that Rubin Kazan have been a regular in European competitions in recent years. They were last in the Champions League in 2011-12 when they lost in the play-off but in the two years before that they made it into the group stages.
Unlike other World Cup stadiums, the Kazan Arena was built in time for an event other than Russia 2018. It was completed in 2013 for the Summer Universiade. It was also used in 2015 for the World Aquatics Championships. Yes, that's swimming and other sports generally practiced in a pool. The football pitch, in a demonstration of how a stadium can be more versatile than just putting in a water jump for the steeplechase, had two swimming pools put in instead of the pitch.
By the way, did I say there are three days to go? Three. Which by now is only really three days on a calendar. Its more like 2 days and 12 hours right now. Thursday 11am, Eastern Time in North America: all normal life stops for Russia-Saudi Arabia. That is, in my ideal world. Reality is not quite so simple.
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