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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he would go to Zurich to thank FIFA for awarding Russia the right to host the 2018 World Cup for the first time.
“I would like to thank the members of the FIFA executive committee for their decision, that they trusted us with staging the football World Cup,” Putin said in televised remarks.
The Russian prime minister, who spearheaded the campaign to bring home the world’s most-watched sporting event, said he would travel to Zurich later Thursday.
“I would like to assure the FIFA leadership that we will do everything possible to ensure that the 2018 football World Cup is staged at a deserving level,” Putin said.
Russia beat off competition from England, Spain/Portugal and Netherlands/Belgium.
Putin said he was confident that his country would win the FIFA vote.
“This confidence was based on the fact that Russia is worthy of staging the football champioship,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Putin as saying.
“I would like to congratulate everyone who loves sport in our country, all the fans of this beautiful game — football. This is a big celebration for us all.”
The news was watched closely across Russia, with the announcement aired live on national television.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote “Hurrah! Victory!” in his Twitter account moments after the announcement, adding that all that Russia needed now was to put up a good performance on the pitch.
“Now we have to really prepare the way we stage the World Cup. And, of course, put up a deserving performance.”
Putin gambled by deciding to skip the Zurich announcement while Russia’s main competitors sent high-powered delegations including for England British Prime Minister David Cameron and footall superstar David Beckham.
The Russian prime minister said that he did not want to put undue influence on the voting members, at the same time accusing main rivals England of “smearing” FIFA officials in a bid to snatch the bid away from his country.
Russia has proposed staging the World Cup in 13 cities grouped into four clusters stretching from the exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the European Union to Yekaterinburg in the Urals on the fringe of Siberia.
With the exception of Yekaterinburg, all the cities are in the European part of Russia and teams will not have to fly out to far-flung regions.
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