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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

FIFA World Cup has helped change Russia’s image worldwide, says official

Russia is hosting its first-ever FIFA World Cup

MOSCOW, July 9. /TASS/. The ongoing FIFA World Cup has helped to change Russia’s image in the world, Arkady Dvorkovich, the chairman of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia-2018, said on Monday.

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

"As for the championship’s legacy, I would like to point to three aspects. First, it is infrastructure. It is very important, especially for children’s football. About 70 new training grounds across the entire European Russia will be used to coach children. Second, it is our organizational skills - volunteers, security," he said, adding that Russia knows how to organize big events.

"And last but not least, we have demonstrated our openness and hospitality to the entire world. And it was not done just for the world tournament. We are like this for real. We have changed Russia’s image in the eyes of the world. And it is very important," Dvorkovich stressed.

Russia is holding its first-ever FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on the night of June 14.

Eleven host cities, namely Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara, were selected to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup.

By now, the tournament has reached the semi-finals stage. France will face Belgium in St. Petersburg on July 10 and England will take on Croatia at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on the following day. A third-place match will be held in St. Petersburg on July 14 and the final match will be played at Luzhniki on July 15.

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2018 World Cup in Russia

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