Big VIP interest in opening match of world champions Germany

Fuente(dpa)

Moscow  – Russian President Vladimir Putin and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino are not there but the opening World Cup match of title holders Germany against Mexico later Sunday has nonetheless drawn a long and illustrious list of VIPs.

Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, his predecessor Vitaly Mutko, Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin and World Cup chief organizer Alexey Sorokin top the bill from the host nation.

Secretary general Fatma Samoura leads the FIFA delegation at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium and a dozen members from the FIFA council, including German football supremo Reinhard Grindel, are also to be present.

But there are no high-ranking politicians from Germany or Mexico listed. Western European and North American dignitaries also did not attend the opening ceremony and opening match at the same stadium.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sent a video message to the team Sunday, kicking a ball around with his wife at their Bellevue residence in Berlin and then symbolically kicking it to Moscow with the message “All the Best for the 2018 World Cup.”

Steinmeier, a former amateur footballer, could go to Russia if Germany go a long way. So could Chancellor Angela Merkel, who visited the team at their recent training camp in Italy, and was present when Joachim Loew’s team won the 2014 title in Brazil.