Monday 30 April 2018, 16:04

2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ volunteers uniform unveiled

Just as every country at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ has its own unique and easily recognisable playing kit, so does the largest team involved behind the scenes at the tournament: the volunteers! On 30 April, a presentation was held to unveil the eye-catching uniform that all 17,040 volunteers from the Local Organising Committee (LOC) will be wearing during the FIFA World Cup.

The uniform, developed by FIFA’s partner company adidas, was revealed at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Football Park in Ekaterinburg. A group of volunteers modelled the outfit on an improvised runway for the public, which included a very special guest: France 1998 World Cup winner Marcel Desailly, who was in Russia’s easternmost Host City for the weekend to attend the opening of the park. The FIFA Legend inspired everyone present with his positivity and amazing attitude. Afterwards, he shared his impressions of the uniform and meeting the volunteers.

“It’s impossible to imagine the FIFA World Cup without volunteers. More than 17,000 people will be assisting both organisers and fans, and now we can say they’ll be easily recognisable too, as the uniform is not only comfortable and stylish, but also eye-catching,” said Desailly. “I’ve already chatted with some of them today and I can see that they are extremely positive people, who will be ready to help at any moment during the World Cup.”

“Volunteers are our main assistants, they not only supplement the work of the organisers in many different aspects of preparing and staging the FIFA World Cup, but also create the tournament’s unique atmosphere,” said the CEO of the Russia 2018 LOC Alexey Sorokin. “We’re very happy that our volunteers have received an easily recognisable and eye-catching uniform, which will help our guests to pick them out in a crowd and build a happy, celebratory mood among supporters and participants at the FIFA World Cup in Russia.”

The designers have done an excellent job and the uniform, which has incorporated aspects of the 2018 FIFA World Cup brand image, looks truly fantastic. Most importantly, it will be easy to pick out volunteers for help and advice during the tournament. The clothes and footwear do not just look good, they are comfortable and functional as well. The full kit includes a t-shirt, jacket, trousers, trainers, baseball cap, rucksack, shoe bag and raincoat. For the rest of their lives, the uniform will be a souvenir of the volunteers’ experience of helping out at the FIFA World Cup.

Adidas has been FIFA’s partner since 1970 and this is not the first time they have designed a uniform for volunteers at one of the world governing body's tournaments. For example, they supplied the volunteer uniforms at last year's FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.

In the last month-and-a-half before the 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off, the volunteers are undergoing their final preparations for the competition. Having already completed most of their training, they are now taking part in test matches at stadiums and will soon have more coaching sessions at World Cup sites in all Host Cities. At that point, all the volunteers will be ready to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the long-awaited first FIFA World Cup to be held on Russian soil.