Russia rejects FIFA plea to cut World Cup venues (Reuters)

By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW Russia (Reuters) - Russia has rejected a FIFA recommendation to cut the number of host cities for the 2018 World Cup from 11 to nine and stadiums from 12 to 10, according to Russia sports minister Vitaly Mutko. -x9cThe plan that we will have 12 stadiums in 11 cities, which will host matches at the World Cup is not changing,-x9d Mutko told the ITAR-TASS news agency on Tuesday. "FIFA recommends that we should have 10 stadiums in nine cities, which include two arenas in Moscow.