2018-06-14 Thu

The Russia World Cup 2018 is just a few hours away and the excitement is ever mounting! With India’s recent win in the 2018 Hero Intercontinental Cup, we are pumped with a newfound enthusiasm for this world-famous game.

The FIFA World Cup starts today, 14th of June, in Russia. Being the 21st FIFA World Cup, this quadrennial international football tournament will conclude on 15th of July. This is the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany and the first ever to be held in Eastern Europe. It is expected to be the most expensive football championship in history, budgeted at 11.8-14 billion US dollars, surpassing the cost of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil!

As if the World Cup itself was not a reason enough to celebrate, Russia has roped in the numismatists and notaphilists fans too! Russia recently issued a commemorative Football World Cup coin and it has released a banknote too! So much to celebrate, isn’t it?

A multicolour 100 Rubbles note depicts a small boy with a ball under his arm and a goalkeeper diving for a ball. The coat of arms of the Russian Federation is located in the top left corner of the front of the note. On the reverse side, there is a flying soccer ball, symbolizing the globe, on which the map of Russia stands out. Below - the names of the cities in which the matches of the championship will be held: Moscow, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg.

The banknote was put into circulation on May 22, 2018. The note is printed on polymer. This is the first polymer banknote issued by the Bank of Russia. The holographic element consists of stylized images of a stadium, a football player and a football.

While the design of the note is vertically oriented, it doesn’t just stop at that; it also has a QR code with a link to the page of the Bank of Russia website with detailed information on security features! Cool right?

Go on, switch on that TV or buy tickets to Russia and watch it live! Or maybe just grab these exciting ‘football fever’ coin and banknote. So, what are you waiting for? One life, live it up, 'cause we got one life
One life, live it up, 'cause you don't get it twice

Image Courtesy: Realbanknotes.com