KAZAN – With the announcement of FIFA President Joseph Blatter to attribute the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia, Kazan, host city of the 2013 Summer Universiade will also become a World Cup host city.
Just a few minutes prior to the announcement of the host country for the 2018 FIFA World Cup bid, an unprecedented non-stop match that ran for a duration of 2,013 minutes plus a 5-minute overtime period drew to an end in Kazan.
Over 1,200 participants got involved in the East vs. West clash to support Russia’s bid for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The unique match featured 41 sets of teams. The non-stop match that took place in the football and athletics arena of Kazan’s Central Stadium brought together officials of Tatarstan’s Government and the Kazan Mayor’s Office, veterans of sports, children of sports schools, students of Kazan’s universities and institutes, media representatives, Kazan 2013 volunteers, residents of the Universiade Village, organizers and partners of the 2013 Universiade as well as members of Tatarstan’s Amateur Football League.
More than a thousand football fans gathered to support the participants by the end of the match. After 33 hours and 38 minutes of non-stop play, the match ended with a 100-94 victory of Team West.
A big screen was installed in the football and athletics arena to broadcast a live 2018 World Cup bid announcement in Zurich that kept glued to the screen not only all the attendees of the 2,013 minute match but millions of people around the world looking forward to hear the name of the winning nation.
With the attribution of the FIFA World Cup, Russia is to host the three largest sporting events in the world , i.e. the Universiade in 2013, the Olympics in 2014 and the FIFA World Cup in 2018.
(Source: Media Department of Kazan 2013 Executive Committee)
The announcement was projected on a giant screen
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