Russia Offers Visa-free Entry to FIFA 2018 Visiting Spectators

Russia is all set to host FIFA 2018. On Wednesday, December 27, the Russian government announced that will allow foreign nationals into the country without a visa if they have a personalized spectator card. The card can either be in paper form or electronic form. Russia will be hosting the FIFA World Cup 2018 from June 14 to July 15, 2018. The country won the hosting rights in 2010. This will be the 21st FIFA World Cup. An official statement released by the Russian government states that it was proposed to establish visa-free entry during the time the soccer championship will be held. The period of visa-free entry is ten days before the event and ends on July 15, the last of the tournament’s day. It is also the day of the finals. Along with this announcement, the government also announced that representatives of the mass media would be allowed to travel through its railway system for free. The representatives will need an accreditation card and an identity document to avail the service.

FIFA World Cup 2018 draws

Every year, the world cup committee holds a draw for dividing the 32 teams into four groups of eight. It happened on December 1^st, 2018, in Kremlin State Palace’s concert hall. The draw event hosted by Gary Lineker, a football legend from England, Maria Komandnaya, and a famous Russian journalist. It was the star-studded event and was attended by Peter Schmeichel, Didier Drogba, Ronaldinho, Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Pele, and Ronaldo. The football matches will be held at 11 locations including Yekaterinburg, St Petersburg, Moscow, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Kazan, and Rostov-on-Don. The opening match is between Russia and Saudi Arabia at Luzhniki stadium on June 14^th, 2018 in Moscow. The 22nd edition of FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, 2022.