Others playing around with the official Telstar 18 World Cup ball included ex-England midfielder Wayne Rooney and Argentina's Diego Maradona. Brazil's Ronaldo juggled the ball by the beach while Sweden's Thomas Brolin had his fun in the snow. Putin is best known for learning to skate and playing ice hockey with government officials and Russian veterans of the winter sport. But the judo black belt is a sports fanatic who is hoping to use the World Cup to showcase Russia and boost its image at a time of fraid relations with the West.WATCH: #Putin and FIFA chief playing #football in Kremlin https://t.co/LZwqg2AAIi pic.twitter.com/NyCZdCAxzM
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 6, 2018
Russia is hosting its first World Cup on June 14-July 15 in 11 host cities stretching from its western exclave of Kaliningrad near Poland to Yekaterinburg in the Urals. Numerous Russian cities are planning events to commemorate 100 days before the start of the 32 team tournament. Moscow is staging an open air concert for 6,000 volunteers while Russia's northern capital Saint Petersburg is unveiling a countdown clock. "It is important to show Russia the way it really is: open, hospitable and modern," Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov was quoted as saying on Tuesday by RIA Novosti.Putin juggles ball in run up to football World Cup in Russia (VIDEO) https://t.co/F5eRAn9oAO pic.twitter.com/ZQbrhRxzNq
— Paris2015 (@paris_2015) March 6, 2018