"Preparations for the football world cup, which our country is hosting this year, are almost finished. Russia is ready for the tournament. Much has been done, now the most important part is beginning, entailing precision tuning of all the mechanisms involved in the process of holding the world championship," Putin told the Supervisory Board of the Russia 2018 Organizing Committee.
The Supervisory Board of the Russia 2018 Organizing Committee is discussing the readiness of Russia's stadiums and other facilities for the World Cup, as well as transport, medical and informational support for the tournament.
A total of 89% of tickets for matches of this summer's FIFA World Cup, to be held in Russia for the first time, have already been sold, CEO of the Local Organizing Committee Alexey Sorokin said.
"As for the tickets, sales have been going quite successfully. As of today, 2,374,000 tickets, which amounts to 89% of the total number, have been sold. Russian fans have bought 46% while foreign fans bought 54%. The leading nations are the United States, Germany, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina," Sorokin said during a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Organizing Committee.
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Russia will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15. Matches will take place in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg and Sochi.