Arsenal's Russian striker Andrey Arshavin claims his country would benefit more than England from hosting the 2018 World Cup.
Arsenal's Russian striker Andrey Arshavin claims his country would benefit more than England from hosting the 2018 World Cup.
FIFA's six-man inspection team arrived in London today to begin assessing the merits of England's bid, a process which has already happened in Russia.
One of the major plus points England's bid team are pushing is the country's readiness to host the tournament, with many suitable facilities already built, unlike in Russia.
Arshavin, though, sees that as a negative.
"You should not have it," he told talkSPORT. "You have everything.
"If you say, 'Let's start the World Cup tomorrow', you have everything already. For us it's going to be much more. In general, in worldwide football it would be better.
"It will let us get infrastructure because at the moment it is not good enough for football.
"Our people love football and it will probably be the biggest event this century for our people."
With neighbours Ukraine co-hosting Euro 2012, Arshavin believes the time has come for Russia to stage a World Cup.
He said: "Now we are jealous! It was part of the USSR so we say, 'If they have [a major championship] why will we not have one?'.
"Of course it means we want to have it more."
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