Over 150,000 people apply for 2018 World Cup volunteer programme

Around 1,52,000 people from 189 countries have applied for participation in the volunteer programme for the 2018 football World Cup, set to be held in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko has said.

Mutko met with rectors of universities which had opened special volunteer centres here on Thursday, reports Sputnik.

"It is a very important meeting. Rectors of 15 universities which opened volunteer centres were invited. I thanked them. The volunteer programme will be closed before the end of December. It is difficult to say how many volunteers there will be. We already received 1,52,000 applications from 189 countries for the volunteer work, 60 percent of which are from women," Mutko said.

He added that only 20,000 volunteers would be selected for further training to work at the World Cup, while 5,500 volunteers would work at the 2017 Confederations Cup.

The Confederations Cup is conducted in the host country one year prior to the World Cup as a rehearsal for the showpiece tournament.

Six football associations along with the hosting team and the reigning World Cup champions participate in the competition.

The quadrennial football tournament will take place between June 17 and July 2, 2017.

The 2018 World Cup will be held from June 14 to July 15 in 11 Russian cities, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi and Volgograd.

--IANS

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