Intro:

Fifa president Sepp Blatter surprises Russian officials after revealing Fifa will discuss the possibility of reducing the number of stadiums to be used at the 2018 World Cup in the eastern European country.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Joseph Blatter FIFA president

"We are looking towards 2018. We are in discussion now what is the ideal number for the organisation, to keep the organisation in such a manner that it is visible, it is reasonable, it is controllable, and that we are not going into situations as it is the case in one or two -- even three -- in South Africa when [the venues] are not used by other sports. Then it is a problem what you do with all this stadia."

SOUNDBITE: (English) Joseph Blatter, FIFA president (On FIFA's wish to reduce the number of World Cup stadiums in Russia)

"For the next World Cup, we will have no problems because it is 'sumamente' [highly] it is a football country. But also there we will have meetings now going on already in September to see with the Local Organising Committee if 12 is the right one or if even could be reduced to 10 [World Cup Stadiums]."