Vladimir Putin has promised the country will not disappoint FIFA or football lovers during the 2018 World Cup.

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SOCHI (Sputnik)Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised the country will not disappoint FIFA or football lovers during the 2018 World Cup.

“We hosted the [Winter] Olympics last year and now Russia has before it a large, if not to say huge task of preparing for the 2018 World Championship in football. These events are no less of a large scale than the Winter Olympic Games,” Putin told FIFA President Joseph Blatter in Sochi.

Putin said he cannot predict how the Russian team would play because that is up to the specialists, but the preparation for the Championships “is the job of the official authorities and we will try not to disappoint you…or the rest of the football enthusiasts in the world.”

Putin added that preparations have already begun and and asked Blatter to share his assessments and comments.

"Everything is proceeding according to plan, and you know that we constantly tell you about this and we always react [to your assessments] quickly," Putin told Blatter.