15 Interesting Facts About the World Cup 2018

The Football World Cup 2018 is definitely the event of the year in Russia. Not only football fans but the whole country is waiting for the competition to start! More than 2.5 millions of tickets are already sold!

We have prepared for you 15 Interesting Facts about the Championship, so you could feel the scale of the event

The World Cup 2018, Russia. Photo by Faizan Saari

• On December 2, 2010, Russia for the first time in history received the right to host the World Cup. The final part of the tournament will be held from June 14 to July 15, 2018.

• 32 national teams will participate in the competition. From the European continent Russia will take part (it automatically received a ticket to the Championship as a host country of competitions) as well as 13 other European national teams, from the African continent – 5 national teams, from Asia and South America – 10 national teams, from the North America – 3 national teams.

• Matches of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia will be held in 11 cities: Moscow (the final of the tournament will be held here), St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Rostov-na-Donu, Kaliningrad, Sochi.

• In Moscow, there will be 12 matches in total, including the final of the tournament. The matches of the World Cup 2018 will be held at the stadiums “Luzhniki” and “Spartak“.

• From June 17 to July 2, 2017 Russia hosted another FIFA tournament – the Confederations Cup. Eight teams became its participants: Russia as host country of World Cup 2018, Germany – the current world champion, Australia – the winner of Asian Cup 2015, Chile – the winner of America’s Cup of 2015, Mexico – the winner of the play-off between holders of the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup and 2015, New Zealand – the winner of the Cup of Nations OFC 2016, Portugal – the current champion of Europe – and Cameroon – the winner of the Cup of African nations.

• The matches of the Confederations Cup will be held in the stadiums of four cities. In Kazan and Sochi, semifinals will be held, in Moscow at the stadium “Spartak” – a match for the third place, in St. Petersburg – the opening match and the final match.

• In October 2014, the corporate style of the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia was presented and its official emblem, executed in the form of the main trophy of the World Cup competitions. The main idea of the image of the Russian Championship was the theme of dreams and space exploration, animated by folklore motifs with firebirds, matryoshkas and folk patterns.

• The symbol of the Championship is Wolf Zabivaka, invented by the student-designer Ekaterina Bocharova. The main symbol of the tournament was chosen by online voting.

• Volunteers will help with the preparation and organization of the World Championship. They will take the special training in 20 functional areas. During the Confederations Cup about 6 thousand people were involved, about 15 thousand will be involved in the preparation and helding of the World Cup 2018. About 20 thousand more volunteers will take part in the program “Urban Volunteers“.

• The World Cup 2018 and each host city are represented by specially selected ambassadors – famous people who were born in these cities or somehow related to them. Ambassadors of the World Cup promote sport and a healthy lifestyle, and also promote the World Cup 2018.

• In addition to football matches, fans will also be able to visit fan events – special FIFA fan festivals.

• Constructed specifically for the Championship, a free city WiFi network will please Muscovites for at least 2 years. Such a pleasure costed to the capital around 830 million rubles.

• Specially for the World Cup in Moscow, the third interchange circuit is being built (Second Ring of the Metro). Some stations are already opened in the beginning of 2018.

• New services in Metro Moscow app will be available for guests and residents of the capital in 6 foreign languages.

• New river trams on the Moscow River will appear. Their launch is associated with the start of the World Cup 2018. One ship can accommodate up to 44 passengers. The cost of the trip is 500 rubles.

And in addition, here are a few more interesting facts gathered on one infographic: