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2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

Russia wants FIFA to be more active in promoting 2018 World Cup — Mutko

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on Friday with FIFA President Gianni Infantino who arrives in Russia to take part in the draw for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup

© Dmitry Rogulin/TASS

KAZAN, November 24. /TASS/. Russia wants FIFA to be more active in promoting the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Russia-2018 Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday.

2018 FIFA WORLD CUP IN RUSSIA

Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on Friday with FIFA President Gianni Infantino who arrives in Russia to take part in the draw for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup to be held on November 26 in the city of Kazan.

"We expect questions to Russia from him [Infantino]. We would like FIFA to be more active in promoting the World Cup. We don’t have any alarming question to him," Mutko said.

Infantino was elected FIFA president in February 2016. He has already spoken with the Russian president during his visits to Moscow.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup at the FIFA Congress in Guatemala on December 4, 2010. The victory came following a tight race against the bid from England, the joint bid from Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

The country 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 between June 14 and July 15 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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