MOSCOW, August 21. /ITAR-TASS/. FIFA representatives will visit the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi in October to inspect preparations of the city for the 2018 World Cup.

Sochi has been selected among 11 other cities across Russia to host the global football tournament’s matches in less than four years. The resort city offers its recently built Fisht stadium as the venue for the 2018 World cup matches.

The Fisht Stadium was constructed for this year’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi and hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics in February and March respectively.

In line with FIFA regulations the stadium must be completely ready for the matches by June of 2016. Besides the laying of the playing pitch, the reconstruction of the stadium also envisages an increase of spectators’ seats and, according to plans, the stadium will be boasting the 45,000-seat capacity by 2017.

In February and March, the Russian resort city of Sochi hosted the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, which, according to international sports officials, athletes and visitors, were organized at the highest level possible and provided up-to-date infrastructure at all levels.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup over three years ago in a tight race against the joint bid from England, Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

Shortly before Brazil’s fabulous city of Rio de Janeiro dropped the curtains on the 2014 World Cup with the final Germany-Argentina clash on July 13, the baton of the global football tournament’s hosting nations was passed on to Russia.