There are only four and a half more months to go until the start of the FIFA World Cup™, the first in history to take place in Russia. The 11 Host Cities are all in the final stages of their preparations for the tournament and soon will be ready to welcome hundreds of thousands of fans from all over the world.

One of the cities, Sochi, will be hosting foreign guests in connection with the World Cup slightly earlier - in a month's time from now. On 27-28 February, the Team Workshop for competing nations at the 2018 FIFA World Cup  is being organised in the tournament's southernmost destination.

Representatives from the 32 countries who qualified for the group stages will take part in the workshop, including coaches, team doctors and experts in technical areas, media cooperation, accommodation, security, logistics, transport and marketing. They will attend a variety of informative sessions covering different aspects of the upcoming competition.

"Sochi is proud to be the first Host City of the World Cup to welcome international guests in 2018," commented Russia 2018 Host City Ambassador Sergei Metreveli. Sergei's father, Slava, was one of the most famous footballers to come out of Sochi, having appeared at the FIFA World Cup in 1962, 1966 and 1970, as well as winning the European Championship in 1960.

"Last year during the Confederations Cup, we showed how we're capable of hosting top football teams and their fans. Now the whole city cannot wait for the real festival of football and to meet fans from different countries."

During the World Cup, four group-stage matches will be held at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi, as well as a Round-of-16 tie and a quarter-final.