JUST weeks after England opened up their iconic 2018 World Cup campaign, the stadium they beat Tunisia 2-1 in was already starting to crumble.
In Volgograd, floods caused landslides that washed away roads and embankments including those by Volgograd Arena.
The 45,568 seater stadium, that hosted England’s first game on their iconic run to the semi final, cost almost £200million.
But videos showed a gushing river coming from the area, before the final had even been played in Moscow, causing major floods.
Something many feared could’ve ended much worse if it happened during a game.
A gaping hole was left, deep enough to fit a two-storey house into, said reports.
READ MORE IN SPORT
Water pipes and sewage systems were broken and the stadium’s power was cut off.
Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov, who visited all the World Cup host cities, blamed “negligence” during the building of the new stadiums.
He said: “A few hours before the end of the championship, the stadium in Volgograd decided to sail to the River Volga.”
An alleged “violation” of safety rules during construction, which ended up being rushed after the budget had run out, was claimed to be the problem.
Most read in Football
Back in July 2018, a spokesman for the stadium’s owners Sport Engineering said there was a “washout” but denied any serious damage to the stadium.
The arena went viral during the tournament when Japanese fans were seen cleaning up after their group stage loss to Poland.
Another Russian ground, Nizhny Novgorod, that saw England run riot over Panama 6-1, had a pavement built just for World Cup fans that also washed away after the roadway collapsed.
Local media were left wondering how it got “seriously” destroyed by the very first shower.
Nizhny Novgorod had construction issues before the tournament as a fire broke out in the stadium causing a disaster for organisers
The World Cup in Russia was clouded in controversy as many fans believed a country with its LGBTQ+ and racism record shouldn’t be given such a big honor.
Russia were also under fire for alleged corruption in the bidding process for the tournament with UEFA officials being accused of taking bribes.
Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad, has a population of just under a million today and the stadium still stands just off the Volga River.
It was given to Russian third division side, FC Rotor Volgograd after the tournament.
A team famous for knocking out a Manchester United squad with David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs on away goals in the 1995 UEFA Cup.
A game that goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel scored a header in.
The stadium is bigger than several Russian first division sides like Spartak Moscow, Rubin Kazan and FC Rostov.
But only averaged just over 12,000 fans a game last year.
A spectacular flower-shaped stadium seating 100,000 was planned to be built for Chinese side Guangzhou but the Chinese government seized the incomplete stadium.
The owners of the club faced debts of up to £220billion and the project was cancelled in mid-2022.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Ukraine’s biggest club side, Shakhtar Donetsk’s former stadium now lies abandoned – with smashed turnstiles and overgrown grounds due to the Ukraine War.
Another eerie stadium is North Korea’s Rungrado 1st of May Stadium which despite being the world’s biggest stadium just collects dust as it’s barely been used in 40 years.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
