Chancellors from 15 universities have been appointed as Russia 2018 Volunteer Program ambassadors, whose institutions will be hosting Volunteer Centres covering all 11 Host Cities.

Ambassadors for the Volunteer Programme of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ have been handed the key task of promoting and popularising the competition’s volunteer values among the students of Russian universities. The role has been entrusted to the heads of the universities that will act as bases for selecting and training the volunteers, who will be the driving forces of the FIFA Confederations Cup Russia 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.

The Chairman of the Local Organising Committee, Vitaly Mutko, said: "Hosting the FIFA World Cup is a unique opportunity to give a significant boost to the volunteer movement in Russia. The volunteers will be a uniting force at the competition and much depends on them, including the impressions that fans and players at the World Cup take away from our country and this wonderful event. We now have to prepare tens of thousands of volunteers, who can become the calling card of this huge footballing festival."

Here are the ambassadors for the Volunteer Program of the 2018 FIFA World Cup™, the chancellors of the universities where the Volunteer Centres were opened on 10 December in every Russia 2018 Host City:

·       Vitaly Borsch, acting chancellor of Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University

·       Sergei Vdovin from N. P. Ogarev Mordovian State University

·       Viktor Grishin from Plekhanov Russian University of Economics

·       Andrei Klemeshev from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University

·       Viktor Koksharov from B. N. Yeltsin Ural Federal University

·       Igor Maksimtsev from Saint Petersburg State University of Economics

·       Bessarion Meskhi from Don State Technical University

·       Natalia Pochinok from Russian State Social University

·       Galina Romanova from Sochi State University

·       Yuri Rubin from Sinergia Moscow University for Industry and Finance

·       Vasily Tarakanov from Volgograd State University

·       Anatoly Torkunov from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, belonging to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

·       Evgeny Chuprunov from the N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod

·       Evgeny Shakhmatov from S.P. Korolev Samar State Aerospace University

·       Yusup Yakubov from the Volga Region State Academy of Physical Education, Sport and Tourism

All Volunteer Centres undergo a certification process to prepare for the huge task of managing applications from would-be World Cup volunteers. More than 5,000 volunteers will be involved in hosting the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 – and more than 15,000 for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.