Speech by Vladimir Putin:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends,

First of all, allow me to welcome Mr Joseph S. Blatter and Mr Michel François Platini from the bottom of my heart. I would like to thank them for being here with us today. Today is a big holiday for millions of Russian football supporters and sports fans. It is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first Russian football organisation. Indeed, the first official Russian organisation, the All-Russian Football Union, uniting fans of this wonderful sport, was established exactly 100 years ago today, on January 19, 1912. Moreover, this date marks the beginning of the history of Russian football as an integral part of the international football family.

It is symbolic, that St Petersburg has become the venue for celebrations, and not only because the constituent assembly of the All-Russian Football Union was held not far from here, on the corner of the Malaya Morskaya and Gorokhovaya streets. It was here that the first football matches in Russian history took place, Russia's first football team, the Sport Lovers Club, came into existence and the first football league was established.

On the whole, St Petersburg's footballing biography deserves a special mention. Ladies and gentlemen, friends, I must mention the legendary "Match of Life," which was held here during the siege of Leningrad in 1942. This game became yet another symbol of the unbreakable spirit of the people of Leningrad and their belief in victory.

I would like to note that football in Russia has always been more than just a sport. It would be no exaggeration to say that this spectacular, exciting and captivating game has become a way of life for many generations of this country's citizens. We are rightly proud of the achievements of our national team, whose achievements include Olympic gold medals and victory at the UEFA European Football Championship. We are proud of our wonderful clubs, who have won numerous continental cups. By the way, as you are all aware, Russia has won the right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Russian national team has never won the World Cup medals. Let's hope that we will feel more confident at home. And, of course, we are proud of our outstanding players and coaches, genuine legends who have added to the illustrious history of world football.

The national football movement has achieved major successes in up-and-coming variants of the game, such as beach football and mini football. The most popular game is acquiring more and more dimensions and it is important that we are moving forwards together with the entire football world. Mini football, for example, is a wonderful opportunity for Russia, with its unique climate and geography, to get tens of thousands of people of all ages involved in sport.

I want to emphasise that interest in football in this country has always been high, but it is growing all the time. More and more people are playing at amateur level and the number of professional football players is also on the increase. The Russian Football Union alone currently has 2.5 million players, 44,000 clubs and over 150,000 teams.

I would now like to mention a figure which both p leases me, and to some extent also surprises me. There are around 400,000 boys and girls training at sports clubs and schools, which is not bad and the number of children playing football is growing all the time. About 600,000 take part in the reinstated Kozhany Myach (Leather Ball) football tournament for children. That's pretty impressive. In all, 400,000 children play football, and the Football Union has 2.5 million players. Where do they all come from? I cannot understand this. This clearly shows that 400,000 ... I would like to draw the attention of the Russian regional leaders and the Ministry of Sport, Tourism and Youth Policy to the fact that 400,000 children at sports schools and clubs is blatantly not enough. This is the future of our football. I hope it is a decent future. I am confident that new stars will emerge, who will match the achievements of our renowned footballers like Lev Yashin, Eduard Streltsov, Nikita Simonyan and Rinat Dasayev. The kids of today will take up the baton and carry on the best winning traditions of Russian football. We need a strong national team, capable of winning at any level and at any competition and, of course, make a good showing at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Russia will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time. I would like to stress once again that we are grateful to FIFA and all the representatives of the world football community for making this choice. As we see it, it is an acknowledgement of this country's achievements in the development of sport and football and an assessment of the new Russia in general as an open and successful country, setting itself the most ambitious goals and capable of holding such large-scale events.

We are currently carrying out intensive work in preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This large-scale project must pool together the efforts of the state, the business community, public organisations and, of course, fans and football supporters. I have no doubt that we will hold this event in a befitting manner, that we will host one of the most outstanding FIFA World Cups in the history of this wonderful sport, in the history of football.

In conclusion, I would like to once again congratulate the Russian Football Union, and all football and sports fans on this memorable date and to wish our athletes glittering new successes. I would like to wish all fans decisive victories for their teams, in attractive games played in the right spirit. We believe in Russian football, in its successful future, its achievements and its victories. Thank you very much for your attention. Congratulations on the holiday.