FIFA to announce 2018 World Cup host cities live on TV

FIFA has confirmed that it will announce the host cities of the 2018 World Cup in Russia in a week's time.

During a live broadcast on Russia's Channel One TV, 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," said Mutko.

The 13 cities vying for recognition are: Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Krasnodar and Sochi.