Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend the World Cup opening ceremony which will hold today at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, the Kremlin’s press service reported.
The head of state will also stay behind to see the opening match played by his country and Saudi Arabia.
Among the guests of the World Cup are high-ranking officials from a number of countries, including foreign leaders. In particular, the heads of state and governments of Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Panama, Paraguay, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and South Ossetia are planning to attend the ceremony and the match in Luzhniki.
Russian President Vladimir PutinSpeaking at the FIFA Congress on Wednesday, Putin said that several generations of Russian fans had been dreaming of hosting the World Cup.
“Twelve first-class stadiums and modern infrastructure have been built” in Russia, he noted.
“Our goal is that all our guests -from football stars to ordinary fans – will feel the warmth and kindness of our people, get into the spirit of Russia’s multiethnic culture and unique nature and (we) hope (you will) all wish to come here again,” Putin stated.
Russia chose 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of this summer’s World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg as well as Samara.
The 2018 World Cup game will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 above mentioned cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are situated in the Russian capital.
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 years ago
