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Russia 2018 Organising Committee in budget deficit

Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko (L), President Vladimir Putin (C) and FIFA President Sepp Blatter (2nd R) listens to Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin at the Luzhniki Stadium, which is under construction, in Moscow, October 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Local Organising committee for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will have a budget deficit for the next year, the country's minister for sport said on Friday. Mutko was speaking at a meeting held by the organisation's directorate of which he is a member. "We will have a budget deficit for 2015. The Organising committee is looking for support from independent sources," the minister told the R-Sport news agency. "The construction costs of the stadiums has not changed at the moment, however market prices could lead to changes in this respect." Mutko also said the opening ceremony could take place in the Dynamo stadium, which will not host any matches during the tournament, rather than the Luzhniki Stadium as was originally planned. "The Organising committee is looking into the possibility of holding the opening ceremony a day before the opening match at the Dynamo Stadium." A contract was signed on Friday regarding the construction of the stadium in Rostov-on-Don, the last to be approved. The 2018 World Cup will use 12 stadiums in 11 cities, including two in Moscow and one each in St. Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg. (Editing by Ed Osmond)