KAMPALA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Uganda is one of the 12 African countries that will host the 2018 FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour.
Humphrey Mandu, deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Uganda Football Association confirmed on Monday that from March 5 the coveted trophy will be in the country for two days. "We shall soon make arrangements on the tour of the World Cup trophy. It is a big opportunity to be picked to host the trophy," Mandu told Xinhua.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It will take place in Russia between June 14 and July 15.
The trophy will come from Cape Town in South Africa on March 4 and head to Uganda's capital, after which it will go to Nigeria's capital Abuja. Although Uganda did not qualify for the World Cup, the Ugandans will be eager to view the coveted World Cup trophy. The tour is sponsored by one of FIFA's co-sponsors Coca Cola.
Uganda's capital is one of the 91 selected cities for the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour that will touch down in 51 countries across six continents. In 2009 the World Cup trophy also toured Uganda ahead of the 2010 event in South Africa.
Phillipe Le Floc'h, FIFA's chief commercial officer said that following the success of the first phase of the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour which gave more than 220,000 people across Russia the chance to see the FIFA World Cup Trophy with their own eyes, they are now excited to offer this unforgettable opportunity to football fans around the world.
The schedule for the World Cup trophy tour will go through Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand, Laos, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Malta, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Israel, Cyprus, Palestine, Jordan, UAE, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Argentina, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, USA, Germany, Mongolia, China and Japan.
