28 December 2014, 17:54 GMT
MOSCOW, January 20 (Sputnik) — Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) president Michel Platini on Tuesday expressed confidence the World Cup to be held in Russia in 2018 will be perfectly organized.
“We are confident in a perfect organization of the World Cup 2018 and we are sure that a lot of tourists will visit Russia,” Platini told journalists.
Platini added that although some reporters say that the standard of professional football in Russia is not very high, UEFA thinks otherwise.
“Russian football has very strong positions… some journalists say that your level of football is not high enough, but we do not think so,” Platini said.
Platini arrived in Moscow on January 19. He has already taken part in several meetings, including one with Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko and Russian Football Association president Nikolai Tolstykh.
The 2018 World Cup, the world's biggest football championship, will take place from June 14 to July 15 in 11 Russian cities, namely Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, St. Petersburg and Volgograd.
