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Russia's 2018 World Cup Costs Soar Another $600 Million

Nikerichev Andrei / Moskva News Agency

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will cost $600 million more than originally expected, according to a government decree signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.

Russia will host 32 teams across 11 cities between June and July next year in games expected to draw thousands of fans.

The latest increase bumps the overall price of hosting the international football tournament by 34.5 billion rubles ($600 million) to 678 billion rubles ($11.8 billion), the decree states.

The government will allocate 390.2 billion rubles ($6.7 billion) to the budget for hosting the World Cup, while 91.9 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) will come from regional governments and 195.8 billion ($3.4 billion) from private or state-run companies.

The decree did not state the reason for the latest cost increase.

In May, costs for hosting the World Cup went up by 4.7 billion rubles ($81 million).

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