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Sochi club withdraws from league in blow to World Cup plans

FILE - This Wednesday, March 1, 2017 file photo shows an inside view of the Fisht Olympic stadium which will host some 2018 World Cup matches, in Sochi, Russia. The Russian city of Sochi's only professional soccer club says it's withdrawing from the league, in a move which calls World Cup legacy plans into question. FC Sochi says in a website statement that it's "taking a break" to rethink its strategy but plans to return in the 2018-19 season. It didn't mention any deal with Russian football authorities, who would need to approve any return. (AP Phoro/Artur Lebedev, File)
FILE - This Wednesday, March 1, 2017 file photo shows an inside view of the Fisht Olympic stadium which will host some 2018 World Cup matches, in Sochi, Russia. The Russian city of Sochi's only professional soccer club says it's withdrawing from the league, in a move which calls World Cup legacy plans into question. FC Sochi says in a website statement that it's "taking a break" to rethink its strategy but plans to return in the 2018-19 season. It didn't mention any deal with Russian football authorities, who would need to approve any return. (AP Phoro/Artur Lebedev, File) FILE - This Wednesday, March 1, 2017 file photo shows an inside view of the Fisht Olympic stadium which will host some 2018 World Cup matches, in Sochi, Russia. The Russian city of Sochi's only professional soccer club says it's withdrawing from the league, in a move which calls World Cup legacy plans into question. FC Sochi says in a website statement that it's "taking a break" to rethink its strategy but plans to return in the 2018-19 season. It didn't mention any deal with Russian football authorities, who would need to approve any return. (AP Phoro/Artur Lebedev, File)

By Associated Press 1 min read

SOCHI, Russia (AP) – The Russian city of Sochi’s only professional soccer club says it is withdrawing from the league, in a move which calls World Cup legacy plans into question.

FC Sochi says in a website statement that it’s “taking a break” to rethink its strategy but plans to return in the 2018-19 season. It didn’t mention any deal with Russian football authorities, who would need to approve any return.

FC Sochi, which played in the Russian third tier, had been due to move into Sochi’s World Cup stadium after the tournament.

It held a single league game there in April, its 6,000 fans vastly outnumbered by empty seats in the 47,000-capacity arena.

Professional soccer in Sochi has long been plagued by financial problems, which forced an earlier incarnation of FC Sochi to withdraw from the league in 2015.