Russia is well on track to ensure the highest level possible of hosting the football Confederations Cup and the World Cup, President Vladimir Putin told the head of the world soccer governing body, the FIFA, on Tuesday.
Russia, which has come under several rounds of Western sanctions over the annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s role in Ukraine’s conflict with pro-Russian separatists, will host the FIFA Confederations Cup next month and the World Cup in 2018.
Moscow has eased visa regulations for foreign soccer fans and pumped billions of dollars into stadiums, hotels and other infrastructure as the Kremlin is struggling to improve Russia’s image in its worst crisis with the West since the Cold War.
“We are going to do everything in our power to ensure that facilities, accommodation, the condition of stadiums in Russia, services will be provided to athletes, to fans and to everyone else are at the highest level possible,” Putin told visiting FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The two men met in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar which is home to one of the nation’s most modern stadiums belonging to Russian Premier League club FC Krasnodar. The city and the club also have a soccer academy.
Although Krasnodar will not be a venue for the upcoming international soccer tournaments, Infantino praised the local soccer facilities.
“Obviously as FIFA president but more importantly also as a football fan I really invite the whole world to come to Russia for the Confederations Cup, for the World Cup and to discover an incredible country,” Infantino said.
