The FIFA 2018 World Cup is a very important event for Russia.

The football championship will be held next year from June 14 to July 15 at 12 stadiums in 11 cities of Russia: in Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Saransk and Sochi.

The country’s leadership pays much attention to the creation of favorable conditions for reception of foreign guests during the Championship. It were undertaken a wide array of measures to modernize hub airports and highways, and to extend the coverage of high-speed rail traffic. For the 2018 FIFA World Cup, new hotels and stadiums have been built, tourist clusters in regions developed, and people for work in hospitality industry trained.

A lot of work has been done to ensure most comfortable fans’ trips to Russia and welcoming atmosphere at the Championship, so that guests have the opportunity not only to enjoy football competitions, but also to get to know our country, see the most interesting and unusual in it, and have a good time in general.

An unprecedented level of security has been provided in Russia. A great experience of anti-terrorist activities and crime prevention among Russian law enforcement agencies is a guarantee against any trouble with the guests of the Championship.

In host cities for matches, special tourist “routes of fans” have been created. For FIFA 2018 World Cup, each host city together with hotels, carriers, restaurateurs, tourist companies and other business representatives designed for fans excursion and tasting tours as well as rich entertainment programs.

A Fan ID project is implemented. It’s designed for foreign fans to make visiting football matches in Russia as convenient as possible.

A ticketing system has been developed that gives all fans equal chances and provides for the distribution of tickets by random draw after pre-submitted applications as well as sales taken periodically on a first-come, first-served basis.

In our country, hotels of any class, every taste and purse are waiting for guests of the Championship: 183 of them, including 39 five-star hotels, will accommodate fans under contracts with MATCH Accommodation, the official agency of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA). Specially, for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 24 new hotels from three to five stars have already been built or are being completed in the host cities; their international airports, as well as highways, and railway stations, have been modernized, significantly improving capacity and comfort,.

The network of air routes has been expanded to provide convenient transport communication between the host cities and foreign countries.

Between the host cities of matches will run special trains providing free travel for owners of Fan ID cards.

By the way, on match days, Fan ID owners will have free use of public urban transport.

For fans, there will be a favorable tourist environment and updated tourist navigation in the host cities of the Championship. This staying in Russia will be comfortable for people of all cultures and religions. Since 2016, Russian Hospitality Program is implemented by Rostourism with the aim to adapt the service in hotels, airports, restaurants, railway stations, museums etc. to specific characteristics and needs of various large cultural and ethno-confessional groups. It’s encompassing such fields as “China Friendly”, “Halal Friendly”, “India Friendly”, “Kosher Friendly” and other “Friendly” projects.

In restaurants and cafes in the host cities of the Championship, fans will be offered special “football menus” as well as traditional dishes of national cuisine for a better experience of ethno-cultural origins of host regions for matches.

The host cities of the 2018 FIFA World Cup are very interesting and promise to give their guests a lot of positive emotions. These are large agglomerations with a developed tourist and entertainment infrastructure, thousands of various attractions, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites. After having arrived in Russia for the World Cup fans from Greece will receive “two in one”: they will see exciting matches and get acquainted with cultural and historical heritage of Russia. In Sochi and Kaliningrad they can also enjoy sea bathing.

It should be noted that the regions of the Russian Federation, located in vicinity of the host cities of Championship or at the intersection of the main thoroughfares that link these regions to each other, are also ready to receive fans and will be able to offer them a wide range of interesting, and enjoyable pastimes. These are, for example, the regions included in the famous tourist route “Golden Ring of Russia”.

Finally, it should be said that football matches will take place at new or reconstructed stadiums that meet all modern requirements and world trends in the development of football arenas in terms of architecture, comfort, design, and engineering solutions.

Russia invites to the FIFA World 2018 and will do everything for football fans to make their trip to the country most emotive, impressive and unforgettable.

Press service of Rostourism.