Next, we bring you 8 curiosities that maybe you did not know about the Russian World Cup:
1- Russia has hosted many major tournaments, including the Olympic Games, but this is the first time that the country will host the World Cup.
2- The mascot of the World Cup of Russia is the wolf named Zabivaka that was created by Ekaterina Bocharova, a Russian student and chosen as a pet through an Internet voting.
3- The World Cup has been played 20 times, Brazil has the most titles with five, followed closely by Italy and Germany.
4- Germany, undefeated in the eliminatory and defending champions of the World Cup won in Brazil 2014, is considered by football experts and football betting houses as the favorite to win the title. The other favorites are Brazil, France, Spain and Argentina.
5- There are 32 nations that will compete in the World Cup, but the biggest surprise is the absence of Italy in the competition. The Azzurri missed their first World Cup finals since 1958 after a 1-0 loss to Sweden in the play-offs
6- Eleven cities in total will host the tournament. They include Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Sochi, Volgograd, Samara, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Saransk. The tournament will start and end in the city of Moscow. The inaugural match will be Russia - Saudi Arabia and will take place at the remodeled Luzhniki stadium in Moscow and will also host the final of the World Cup to be played on July 15.
7- Most stadiums in Russia are new, made with special technology and equipped with the highest standards that were an important requirement of FIFA.
8- FIFA informed that more than 3.5 million ticket applications were received only for the first round. The World Cup in Russia could be the busiest World Cup of all time if the momentum of ticket sales remains as it has been. It is estimated that, during the World Cup, Russia will be visited by more than 3,000,000 people, including 1,000,000 guests from all over the world.
