WITH EVERY MAJOR tournament there’s always the logistical nightmare of where to host the games.

You need locations that will showcase an entire country and not just the more high-profile cities. And, that usually means plenty of renovation and redevelopment.

For next summer’s World Cup, there will be 12 venues across 11 cities. And some of the impressive handy-work has already been seen during the Confederations Cup in the summer and when Liverpool recently visited the 45,000-capacity Otkrytiye Arena to face Spartak in their Champions League clash.

Russia seemed to have everything under control. But, they ran into trouble with the Central Stadium in Ekaterinburg, an old venue that had been built in the mid-1950s to accommodate athletics meets. It only had a capacity of about 27,000 but despite an upgrade in 2011, Fifa asked for a lot more and required the stadium to make space for another 8,000 prospective spectators for the four group-stage games it will be hosting.

Construction began in 2015 as designers attempted to figure out a strategy whilst retaining the historical facades in any new look.

The old stands were demolished and the running track taken out but because it’s a tight space, the decision was made to place temporary seating behind each goal and go pretty high.

But, the temporary seating juts out of the main ground at either end meaning the entire thing looks completely disjointed and cobbled together (which, of course, it is).

Inevitably, the views from behind the goal are certainly unique.

It’s set to be completed in December but there are just some minor details still to be done.

The stadium is ahead of schedule and it’s got Fifa’s approval.

It’s sure to be the most eye-catching of the World Cup venues but not for the usual reasons.

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