Best ever: recalling the 2018 FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup was a real festival for fans and a great challenge for Moscow. But Moscow has proved to be capable of holding events of any scale.

Waiting for the festival

Construction and reconstruction of stadiums, upgrading of public transport and airports — Moscow was getting ready to host the World Cup in all areas.

Spartak Stadium was specially built to welcome the upcoming tournament.  Luzhniki Stadium has had a big reconstruction, with 1km long panoramic observation deck and a Sports Park adjacent to the Luzhnetskaya Embankment and the Vorobyovy Gory arranged.

Fans were looking forward to the World Cup's beginning. There was a countdown clock set up on Manezhnaya Square launched before the start of the championship, on 14 June.

First victory

In the opening match in Luzhniki, the Russian team met with the team of Saudi Arabia. Nobody put high hopes on our players, as the team had never left the group at the World Championships before. Moreover, it lost almost all friendly matches before the tournament. Nevertheless, things changed in Moscow, as Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5:0.

In all languages of the world

Moscow had prepared an eventful program for its guests. Between football games, guests were introduced to Moscow's cultural attractions. Over 20,000 football fans from around the world attended free city centre tours.

With the main fan's document, a fan ID, fans could visit many Moscow museums, use public transport on match days for free and take advantage of other benefits.

After the championship had started, Moscow streets became a venue for round-the-clock festivities. Many football fans could be seen in Zaryadye and Gorky parks. The fans were happy to celebrate their own and other people's victories, they waved colourful flags and sang songs in all languages of the world. Moscow amazed foreign guests with its sights and hospitality of its residents. In the first days, Mexican tourists flooded Moscow, as their team played their first match in Luzhniki (Mexico — Germany) on 17 June.

"Wherever you go, you will definitely see something interesting. I was also impressed by Russian people, their kindness and emotional generosity. People came up and offered their help when we got lost. You didn't even have to ask anybody," said Eduardo, a fan from Mexico.

Upgraded Tverskaya Street attracted tourists, too. "Moscow! First impressions. Tverskaya Street, very beautiful,'' a Mexican fan Cesar Jimenez wrote in his Twitter.

Foreigners liked Moscow embankments, too.

"Your city is very clean. Stunning architecture, ancient buildings. Besides, I would advise all my friends to take a walk along the Moskva River. Very beautiful views, unique landscape," said Christian, a Mexican national team's fan.

4.5 million tourists visited Moscow during the FIFA World Cup. Most of them came from China (223,000), USA (167,000) and Germany (84,000). Moscow hotels were over 90 percent occupied, but no any urgent steps were needed, as the tourist infrastructure was ready for this level events.

Many fans decided to stay longer in Moscow, with guests from Australia among them, who lived in Moscow for an average of 15.8 days (despite the fact that their team quickly crashed out of the championship), and Argentines, Mexicans (13.2 days) and Spaniards (10.6 days) following.

Games in the overcrowded stadium

On 16 June, the first game was held at Spartak Stadium, between Argentina and Iceland's teams. The match ended with 1:1 draw.

This game, like all 12 matches of the FIFA World Cup held in Moscow, was sold out. Big Sports Arena of Luzhniki accommodated about 78,011 fans, with Spartak Stadium accommodating about 44,190 spectators. Public transport in Moscow was ready for this. Football fans could leave the stadiums by metro, commuter trains, free shuttle buses, or use accredited taxis.

Nikolskaya Street

A few days after the championship's start, Nikolskaya Street became an informal attraction centre for football fans. It had been chosen spontaneously. Guests from different countries took a fancy to beautiful and brightly lit pedestrianized street in the centre of Moscow. There was a 24-hour international fiesta taking place in this street. It became famous very soon, and ''How to get to Nikolskaya?" was one of the most frequently asked questions at Live Chat information desks.

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Happy Russian fans

On 1 July, the Russian team met with the Spanish team in the last 16. Its opponents had been considered as one of the World Cup favourites, but with the support of fans, our players showed a great game. Russian players ended the match with 1:1 draw, and a penalty shootout ended with the Russian team winning.

Volunteers' assistance

Almost 9,000 volunteers offered their assistance during the World Championship, with 5,000 of them being Moscow residents. They made every effort to ensure that fans feel comfortable in the Russian capital.

Volunteers worked in nine areas such as accreditation centre, transport, 'last mile', medical services, tourist routes, information centres, media support, festival of fans and city events.

"We were the first people the fans saw when arriving to Moscow by train. We met them, showed the way to the metro, hotels, stadiums and attractions, tell them where to buy tickets and so on," said Irina Markina, Moscow City University's student, team leader of 'Transport' area.

For the first time, volunteers worked with the FIFA leadership, high-ranking officials and official guests, and participated in the pre-game ceremonies. They carried out the Cup images and the flags of the participating teams.

The campaign to recruit volunteers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup was one of the largest in the history of the volunteer movement, and it broke the World Cups' record as for the number of applications submitted, with about 177,000 people wanting to volunteer.

FIFA World Cup promotes volunteer movement

Fans in the metro

The World Championship guests liked Moscow metro, as being both beautiful and convenient transport means. Also, foreigners appreciated that Moscow metro had Wi-Fi, unlike many other cities in the world. During matches, metro, MCC, Aeroexpress train and some surface transportation routes' trips were free. In total, five million free trips has been made during the championship. Most passengers chose the metro, MCC and monorail (about 3.8 million free trips). At the same time, daily number of Moscow metro passengers had increased by 300,000 during the championship.

Tourists made the most enthusiastic reviews about Moscow metro. Thus, Adrian from Argentina noted the convenience of transfers between different types of urban transport.

"Transport in Moscow is very convenient, there are many options to chose from, and a beautiful metro to take. Thus, having arrived in Moscow, I had no trouble to get to the hostel first by Aeroexpress train, and then by metro. Despite the fact that Moscow metro was built a long time ago, it is very convenient," he said.

Fans appreciated also the monitors installed in the cars, as they were broadcasting live all the matches. 1,900 cars had screens installed.

Over 400,000 Moscow Metro passengers watched World Cup semifinals

FIFA fans' festival

During the matches, Vorobyovy Gory became the most popular FIFA fans' festival venue. They could watch the games on one big screen (16m x 9m) and 9 additional screens (8m x 4.5m).

1.9 million fans have attended the festival (about 80,000 people a day). Most fans came from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.

They liked watching the matches together with other fans so much that on 7 July, when Russia played in Sochi a quarterfinals match with Croatia, one more fan zone was arranged in Moscow next to Spartak Stadium. The meeting ended with 2:2 draw, with a penalty shootout appointed. However, for the second time, the Russian team was not so lucky, as the Croats were stronger. Nevertheless, the fans considered the Russian team's progress to the quarterfinals as a great success. The Russian team had never achieved such results before. As for the USSR team, it reached the quarterfinals in 1970.

The finish and billions of additional revenues

The final match of the World Championship took place on 15 July in Luzhniki. On this day, hundreds of millions of people throughout the world watched the broadcast from Moscow. France defeated Croatia 4:2, and for the second time in its history, the French team became the FIFA World Cup winner. The best championship ever ended. It brought Moscow not only a whole month of brightest events, but also huge profits in the Moscow budget. In just a month of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, fans spent RUB 14.8 billion. As for the Moscow residents, they may still enjoy upgraded stadiums and other legacy of the football championship.