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2018 World Cup Emblem reflects Russia’s soul and heart — FIFA chief

The official emblem of the 2018 World Cup will be unveiled late on Tuesday night in the Russian capital during the Evening Urgant television talk show

Otkritie-Arena, one of 12 Russian stadiums selected to host the World Cup 2018 ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin

Otkritie-Arena, one of 12 Russian stadiums selected to host the World Cup 2018

© ITAR-TASS/Valery Sharifulin

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‘Spirit of new changed Russia’ to be main selling point for 2018 World Cup — organizer

MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Russia’s official emblem of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, to be unveiled late on Tuesday night in Moscow, reflects the soul and heart of Russia, Sepp Blatter, the president of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), said.

The official emblem of the 2018 World Cup will be unveiled late on Tuesday night in the Russian capital during the Evening Urgant television talk show by FIFA President Blatter and Secretary General Jerome Valcke, jointly with Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also the chairman of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and Fabio Cannavaro, captain of Italy’s 2006 World Cup winning side. The ceremony is scheduled to kick off at 11:30pm Moscow time.

Blatter, who is currently on a visit to Moscow, said he had already seen the emblem and liked it very much as it reflected the soul and heart of Russia, as well the country’s cultural traditions.

“Winning the right to host the FIFA World Cup was a dream come true for millions of Russians,” Mutko was quoted by FIFA official website as describing the emblem earlier this month. “To creatively capture the essence of this remarkable historic moment, inspiration was drawn from both Russia’s rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation.”

“I hope that fans around the world will appreciate and love the Russia 2018 Emblem,” Mutko added.

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.

The symbolic hand-over ceremony of the right to host the World Cup tournament was held at the iconic 74,700-seat capacity Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro and was attended by FIFA President Blatter, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In August, Putin said that the number of 12 stadiums in a total of 11 cities selected to host the World Cup would not be changed.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup, and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.

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