Action at the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup could take place in Moscow’s iconic Red Square if a planned Russian bid for the biennial event is successful.
This was announced by Russian Football Union official Sergei Anokhin following his re-election as chairman of the organisation’s Beach Soccer Committee.
If successful, it would mark the first time that the 2011 and 2013 champions have played host to the event.
“We want to submit a bid to host the Championship in 2021,” Anokhin was quoted as saying by Russian website Championat.com.
“More [than that] I can not say.
“The idea has been there for a long time.
“We would like [it] to take place in Moscow on Red Square.”
First held in its current format in 2005, the Beach Soccer World Cup now takes place every two years.
Three editions have taken place on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, with other hosts including Marseille, Dubai, Ravenna and Tahiti.
Praia da Baía in Portugal hosted the most recent edition in 2015.
The Bahamas is due to play host to the next event in 2017.
No host has yet been announced for 2019, while FIFA’s bidding procedures for either of the next two events to be awarded have not yet been announced.
The next edition of the FIFA World Cup is also due to take place in Russia.
It is expected the nation’s chances of successfully bidding for future sporting events could be affected by the outcomes of the McLaren investigation into allegations of state-sponsored doping in Russia.
The second part of the World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned report is expected to be unveiled in full on December 9.
By Nick Butler
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.