Bombs at World Cup stadium

The 2018 World Cup has seen some explosive action even before it would start as builders working on a new stadium in the South West Russian city of Volgograd have so far discovered 11 unexploded World War II (WW2) bombs.

During the war Volgograd was known as Stalingrad, which saw some of the bitterest fighting at the end of 1942 in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city.

The bitter fighting in which both sides exchanged massive amounts of ordnance also left many unexploded bombs around the city, many of which are now being discovered following the demolition of the old stadium and rebuilding it into a modern one.

The discovery of the bombs was revealed by the vice-governor of the Volgograd Oblast, Vasily Galushkin, talking to local media.

He said: "During the two months of the demolition of the Central Stadium it was discovered so far that 11 shells from WW2 were still on the site. Given the large volume of unexploded ordnance, we have had to carefully check the site to make absolutely sure all the bombs have been removed. However, we are confident that we have now achieved this and the work itself is scheduled to start in the last week of January."

The new stadium, "Arena Pobeda (Victory)", will be built on the former site of the Central Stadium between Mamaev Kurgan and the right bank of the Volga.

For the construction of the new stadium the government signed a contract worth a total of £190 million with architecture construction firms.

The construction of the arena, which will accommodate 45,000 fans, will now be finished in November 2017.