100 days to go until World cup: 100 volunteers come together at Kazan arena
With only 100 days left to go until the kick-off of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, candidates of the City Volunteers programme came together at the Kazan Arena Stadium. At the event, the best volunteers of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup were awarded with commendation letters from the Mayor of Kazan, and the newcomers got inspired by the example of their more experienced colleagues and visited for the first time the legendary venue.
Present at the event was First Deputy Chairman of the Kazan Executive Committee, Damir Fattakhov, who in his opening speech underlined the importance of the city volunteers' contribution to creation of the world pageant of football: "It is important to us not only to host the World Cup on the highest level, but also to create all necessary conditions for our guests. We want them to see the sports capital of Russia, Kazan, at its best, to experience our hospitality. Their role is hard to overestimate: they welcome tourists and, of course, help our citizens."
The best 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup volunteers were awarded with the commendation letter from Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin. From 700 volunteers, 70 best activists were chosen who proved to be the most active and diligent.
Present at the event was also Alexander Karpov, Deputy Director Genera of the Directorate for Sports and Social Projects. "Today we celebrate 100 days until the kick-off, and today we start the recruiting of volunteers. The first 50 people have already undergone the recruiting. The team of 1,000 volunteers will be made up by April. As we have informed, we received 2,500 applications. One of the requirements is to be able to speak foreign languages, and not only English. For example, we are making up a group of volunteers speaking Japanese: as you know, their team have chosen Kazan as their Base Camps.
The official ceremony wrapped up with an excursion around the Stadium, and the volunteers had an opportunity to visit the most interesting places that are difficult to access.