MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russia offers amazing hospitality and is ready to welcome guests and participants of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off next summer in 11 cities across the country, FIFA Director of Marketing Services Jean-Francois Pathy said on Wednesday.

"It’s a fantastic experience coming here to Russia and we can count on the amazing Russian hospitality," Pathy told journalists. "We were lucky to experience it at the [2017] FIFA Confederations Cup."

"I think the country is ready to welcome the World Cup," Pathy added.

This week on Friday the Russian capital of Moscow is hosting the Final Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup to determine opponents in eight different groups made of 32 national teams, which qualified for the global quadrennial football championship.

After successfully hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup this summer, Russia is now in full-swing preparations to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

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.