MOSCOW, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) confirmed on Friday it would announced the host cities of the 2018 World Cup in Russia next Saturday.
During a live broadcast on Russia's Channel One TV starting from 9:20 p.m. Moscow time (1720 GMT) on September 29, FIFA President Sepp Blatter and Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko will jointly unveil the final 11 host cities among 13 candidates.
"I can say with pride that whichever host cities are finally selected, we believe that the entire country will win," Mutko said.
Officials from FIFA and Russia, as well as Russian athletes, football stars and celebrities will also attend the announcement ceremony.
Russia was awarded the right to host the 2018 World Cup in December, 2010. A total of 13 Russian cities, including Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar and Sochi are vying to host World Cup matches.
Mutko said in April that FIFA has allocated nearly 700 million U.S. dollars for the 2018 World Cup.