This summer’s World Cup is just around the corner, but the same cannot be said for most of the stadiums the participating teams will travel to in Russia. For the third time in a row, FIFA’s flagship event is being held in one of the world’s biggest countries and the journey times that will be confronted are not just difficult for fans. Players, already dealing with the demands of games every three days after a strenuous season, will have to contend with long spells on the road and in the air. It is true that all the games will be based in the more populated western part of the biggest country on the planet, but some of the distances between host cities are still mind-bogglingly huge. To get from the Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg, the most easterly of the World Cup arenas, to the Kaliningrad Stadium, the most westerly, one would have to travel around 2,500km. That is the same as a trip from London to Istanbul. From Sochi to Saint Petersburg the situation is similar, with teams clocking up almost 2,000km to move between the two. For most observers, there is a group of four or five favourites to take the title, including Brazil, Germany, France, Spain and perhaps Belgium. Of those teams, it is Brazil that will travel the furthest during the group stages and on a possible run towards the final. It is more than likely, then, that fatigue will be Brazil’s most significant enemy in their quest to conquer a sixth world title. All the nations that will be playing in Russia had to choose the location for their training base before the draw was made. There was, therefore, a balance that needed to be struck between comfortable surroundings and travel times. Brazil’s Director of National teams, Edu Gaspar, part of the Arsenal team that won the Premier League in 2002 and 2004, prioritised the former.