The 21st FIFA World Cup is being held in Russia from

The 21st FIFA World Cup is being held in Russia from June 14 to July 15, 2018. This is the first time the World Cup has been held in Russia, although it's been held in many other European countries in the past. The last time was when Germany hosted the 18th FIFA World Cup in 2006. Italy won its fourth World Cup that year, while Spain won its first World Cup at the next tournament in South Africa in 2010. Brazil then hosted the 20th FIFA World Cup in 2014. Brazil was hoping to win a record-breaking sixth World Cup, but the team suffered a shocking 7-1 defeat to Germany in their semi-final match and didn't even reach the final. Germany then went on to win their fourth World Cup by defeating Argentina in the final. Even though the Russian team will be trying their best to win the World Cup for all their passionate fans, football experts say their chances of winning this time are very small. Most are predicting that the winners will be either Germany, Brazil, France or Spain.
Bids, Host Cities and Stadiums
In 2010, FIFA announced that Russia had won the right to host the 2018 World Cup. They'd defeated bids by Portugal, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and England. The English Football Association accused the Russians of bribingFIFA officials to vote for the Russian bid, but an official investigation in 2014 found no evidence of bribery by the Russians. After being cleared of these accusations, Russia could begin work on their preparations. They built training camps, or base camps, for the 32 national teams that had qualified. They also built or renovated twelve stadiums in which the tournament's 64 matches would be held. The biggest is Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium where seven matches are scheduled to be held, including the opening match on June 14 and the World Cup Final on July 15. Others include Spartak Stadium, also in Moscow, and stadiums in these ten additional Russian cities:
Kaliningrad
Kazan
Nizhny Novgorod
Rostov-on-Don
Saint Petersburg
Samara
Saransk
Sochi
Volgograd
Yekaterinburg
Qualification
The national teams of 210 countries competed to qualify for one of 32 places available in the 2018 World Cup finals. Host nations always get in automatically so the Russian team didn't have to qualify, but the other teams had to earn a place by competing against all the other countries in their region. There were six regional qualification tournaments held between 2015 and 2017 for countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, North and Central America, and South America. Most of the countries that were expected to qualify did so, but there were some big surprises. Four-time World Cup winners Italy didn't qualify, and nor did three-time runners-up the Netherlands. Many people were also surprised when Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast and the USA failed to qualify. Meanwhile, the people of Iceland and Panama were very excited to see their own teams progress through their qualifying tournaments and make it into the World Cup finals for the first time.
Mascot
The official mascot of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is a wolf called Zabivaka which means "the scorer". Even though Zabivaka was competing against many others, he became the official mascot by getting the most votes from members of the general public. He was created by graphic design student Ekaterina Bocharova who said Zabivaka is "fluffy and has kind eyes" like her own pet dog. In the past mascots were usually chosen by FIFA-appointed committees, but this time the organizers decided a democratic vote would be best as they wanted to make sure the most popular mascot was chosen.
1. In which year did Spain win its first FIFA World Cup?
a) 2006 b)2010 c) 2014
2. The Russians were cleared of accusations of _______ мейд by the English Football Association.
a) Bidding b) voting c) bribery
3. How many cities will be hosting matches during the 2018 World Cup?
a) Ten b) eleven c) twelve
4. Which country didn't have to qualify to compete in the tournament?
a) Italy b) the Netherlands c) Russia
5. The 2018 FIFA World Cup mascot Zabivaka was chosen by _______ .
a) The general public b) Ekaterina Bocharova c) a FIFA appointed committee
6. If a stadium has been renovated, it has been _______ .
a) Repaired b) replaced c) completely rebuilt
7. The phrase members of the general public means _______ people.
a) rich or upper-class b) ordinary c) poor or lower-class
8. In which place does a runner-up finish in a race or competition?
a) First place b) second place c) third place
9. Teams that win a World Cup semi-final match progress to
a) the World Cup Final b) a World Cup tournament c) a qualifying tournament
10. Sporting events like the FIFA World Cup are unifying if they remind us that we're all part of
a) Separate countries b) different races c) one world