FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has thanked Russia’s president, Vladmir Putin, and Russia as a whole for giving the World what he described as the “best world cup ever.”
Speaking at then occasionof handling over of baton to the next host at the Kremlin, Infamtino said Russia has justified FIFA’s choice of picking them as the host country despite uproar from certain quarters.
During the biding and campaign for the World cup, many countries, England especially had accused Russia of bribing FIFA officials to get votes.
The handover of the baton means that the countdown to the next tournament in 2022 is already in earnest.
President Putin of Russia said: “We are proud of what we did for fans of this wonderful sport. We ourselves, the whole country, got an enormous amount of pleasure from interacting with soccer, with the world of soccer, with the fans who came here from all over the globe.“I am sure that our friends from Qatar will be able to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup on the same high level.
We are, of course, ready to share the experience we acquired in holding the World Cup this year, along with our friends.”As part of the ceremony, Putin handed an official World Cup ball to Infantino, who then handed it on to the emir.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said his country would apply all its efforts to making a success of the 2022 World Cup, adding, “we hope to overcome all the difficulties.”