Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Vitaly Mutko, has said he is confident a rights deal will be struck for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in its host nation before the end of the year.
Mutko (pictured), who is chair of the organising committee for the national team tournament and also serves as president of the Russian Football Union, provided an update to the situation ahead of today’s (Friday’s) draw for the finals next summer.
He told state news agency Tass: “Fifa president (Gianni Infantino) will be here this week, we will discuss this topic with him. All the accompanying requests, with which Fifa addressed us, we did. I think that this issue should be closed in the near future. There are all the prerequisites that this will happen before the New Year, we would very much like this.”
Alexander Fayfman, general producer of state-controlled commercial broadcaster Channel One, last month said no progress had been made on securing a rights deal for the World Cup, adding that the negotiating parties were still seeking a compromise.
A rights deal for June’s Confederations Cup, effectively a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, was only agreed six days before the start of the tournament.
The agreement was struck with the 2SPORT2 consortium, which includes Channel One, along with fellow state-backed broadcasters VGTRK and Match TV.
In July, Mutko said Fifa wants Russia to pay more than double what the country is willing to spend on broadcast rights for the World Cup in the country.
Mutko said that Fifa has asked for $110m (€95m) for the rights to the tournament, while Russian-backed media can only afford to pay between $38m and $40m. Mutko added that television advertising income in Russia is lower than in other countries.