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Colombian volunteer fulfills father’s dream by coming to FIFA World Cup

Colombia volunteer Vladimir Juan Marco is working in the Volgograd Arena’s mixed zone
Team Colombia's fans Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS
Team Colombia's fans
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

VOLGOGRAD, June 19. /TASS/. Colombia volunteer Vladimir Juan Marco, who came to Russia to work as a volunteer at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, has fulfilled the dream of his father who was in love with Russia.

"My father loved Russia so much that he named me Vladimir and my brother Andrei," the volunteer told TASS, adding that "he very much wanted to visit your country and now I have made his dream come true."

However, this is not Vladimir’s first World Cup as four year ago he worked as a volunteer at the previous tournament in Brazil.

"I am working in the Volgograd Arena’s mixed zone. It is an area where players may be interviewed by reporters. We are closely cooperating with FIFA staff, maintaining contact through walkie-talkies," Vladimir from Colombia went on to say. "I think I have been put to this task because I am an experienced volunteer fluent in three languages - Spanish, Portuguese and English," he noted, adding that he planned to study as much of Russian as possible while in the country.

"I like your country though it is very different from mine in many aspects. But girls here are as beautiful as girls in my country," Marco smiled.

2018 FIFA World Cup

Russia is holding its first ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on June 14. Apart from Moscow, the host cities include St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

A Group G match, in which England defeated Tunisia 2-1, took place in Volgograd on June 18. The city will also host the match between Nigeria and Iceland on June 22, the - Saudi Arabia - Egypt game on June 25 and the Japan - Poland match on June 28.