FIFA WORLD CUP 2018 - ROAD TO RUSSIA

          The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010. This will be the first World Cup ever held in Eastern Europe, and the first held in Europe since 2006, all but one of the stadium venues are in European Russia, west of the Ural Mountains to keep travel time manageable.

           The final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities. The final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium. The winners will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Besides this,

• ·       Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport has the fastest Wi-Fi in Europe
• ·       Moscow to consider electronic visas for foreigners planning trips to Sochi
• ·       Average life expectancy in Russia up to 71.9 years in 2016
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• ·       U.S. President Trump prepares to meet Putin at G20
• ·       Russians consider Putin an influential historical personality
• ·       Political threats did not prevent U.S. from buying Russian Eurobonds
• ·       Russian arms exporter sells 50 warships worth $24 billion since 2000
• ·       Putin visits Crimean youth camp Artek
• ·       Russian warships fire Kalibr missiles, destroy ISIS arms depots in Syria. 
• ·       Russia’s telecom watchdog urges Telegram team to comply with demands.

         

 The tournament logo was unveiled on 28 October 2014 by cosmonauts at the International Space Station and then projected onto Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre during an evening television programme. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said that the logo was inspired by "Russia's rich artistic tradition and its history of bold achievement and innovation", and FIFA President Sepp Blatter stated that it reflected the "heart and soul" of the country. For the branding, a typeface called Dusha (from Душа, Russian for soul) was created by Portuguese design agency Brandia Central in 2014.

The World Cup is a very complicated tournament - six games, seven if you make it to the final  and maybe if you lose one game you're out, even if you're the best.    -PELE