May 22 – Russia is warming to its World Cup 2018 task and preparing to welcome FIFA’s 208 federations to St Petersburg for the Preliminary World Cup Draw on July 25, the first major world event in the country running up to the finals.
Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko increased expectations for the occasion saying he hoped many of the world’s best players and national team managers would be present.
“Although this event is strictly regulated by FIFA, I dearly hope that world level footballers from different national teams will come to St. Petersburg in July,” Mutko said in an interview with TASS.
“In case FIFA asks the players of the Russian national team to attend the ceremony, the will happily accept the offer. If head coaches will be part of their national delegations, our Fabio Capello will certainly come to St. Petersburg.”
The draw, which will take place in the historic Konstantinovsky Palace which in the 18th century was one of the residences of Russia’s imperial family, is the first time in World Cup history that all teams will go into the draw at the same time.
Alongside the draw, there will be meeting of the FIFA’s organising committee, who will, according to Mutko, be given “a presentation of the whole organisational infrastructure, including teams’ bases and training sites.”
Preparations and build are now advanced in all the host cities. The finals will be played in 12 venues across the 11 host cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
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