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Vladimir Putin has attended the closing ceremony of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which concluded with Brazil passing the relay to Russia to host the 2018 World Cup.
The ceremony took place at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro which also hosted the 2014 World Cup final between Germany and Argentina, ending in a 1–0 victory for Germany.
Speech at the ceremony handing the relay for hosting the FIFA World Cup from Brazil to Russia
Vladimir Putin: President Rousseff, President Blatter, friends,
Football is more than a sport for millions of people all around the world. For many people it is a way of life and indeed even the sense of life, and yet it remains nonetheless a sport, the most popular sport of all.
The sportspeople, specialists and trainers have the job of demonstrating their skill, achieving victory and success, and making their supporters happy. Our job is to organise this work in fitting fashion and give the sportspeople, specialists, journalists and fans the best conditions. I want to congratulate President Rousseff on the way this work, which is very important for the country, was organised.
Brazil will prepare to host the Olympic Games over these coming years, and we wish Brazil success in this work. Brazil and Russia can learn from each other, all the more so as Russia just organised and hosted a successful Olympics in Sochi.
FIFA does a lot of work to put football to use in resolving the big social problems that the entire world faces. President Blatter puts a lot of personal effort into addressing these issues, and we hope that the preparations for the FIFA World Cup in Russia will also contribute to tasks such as fighting drugs, racism, and other challenges we face today.
Brazil has set a high standard for holding the World Cup. We will try to do all we can to meet this same standard and prepare well for this event, as is the hope and desire of millions of football fans around the world.
We are grateful to President Blatter and his FIFA colleagues for giving Russia the honour of organising and hosting the World Cup in our country.
I promise you that we will do everything within our power to organise and host a worthy event of the highest level. Thank you.
July 14, 2014, Rio de Janeiro