Record number of volunteers’ apply for 2017, 2018 FIFA Cups in Russia

Moscow, Dec 6: A new record of volunteers bids for the 2017 Confederations Cup and the 2018 World Cup in Russia were registered in the history of the global football tournaments with the current number already exceeding 1,57,600 applications.

The figure was announced during the celebrations dedicated to the International Volunteer Day on Monday and held at the VDNKh exhibition centre here, reports Tass.

The 2018 World Cup and the 2017 Confederations Cup Volunteer Recruitment campaign was launched at a solemn ceremony in Moscow on June 1 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last October, the Russian Sports Ministry certified 15 higher education establishments in 11 cities across Russia, officially authorising them to recruit and prepare volunteers for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, which are the two major football events to be hosted by Russia in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

A total of 5,000 volunteers will be selected to serve at the Confederations Cup, while 15,000 volunteers are planned to be recruited for the World Cup. The deadline for submitting the applications is December 30, 2016.

Russia is currently in full-swing preparations for the global football championship after the country won the bid to host the World Cup on December 4, 2010.

The victory came following a tight race against a bid from England and joint bids from Portugal-Spain and Belgium-the Netherlands.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 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 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums in the 11 cities across the country. Two of the stadiums are located in Moscow.