Russia World Cup 2018 – World Cup Coins

The Russian Central Bank plans to strike coins as well as print banknotes in order to commemorate the 2018 World Cup, being hosted in the Russian Federation. Of course, the move to issue the World Cup coin series would be pursuant to approvals being issued by FIFA. As a precursor to the gala event, the Russian Federation has already issued certain coins. For example, a series of coins have been launched by the city of Ekaterinburg, the fourth largest city in Russia, where the last Tsar and the Romanov family were executed by the Bolsheviks. The coins feature an image of the arena along with an inscription announcing the start of the construction. The coins were struck by the Ural mint ahead of the tournament that starts on June 14, 2018.

Earlier Russian sports themed coins

This isn’t the first time that Russia has issued coins to commemorate the FIFA World Cup. In 1997, the Central Bank issued 20,000 silver roubles to commemorate the 1998 World Cup, which was held in France. Similarly, Russia also minted 10,000 silver coins with a face value of three roubles each and 1,500 gold coins with a face value of 50 roubles, to herald the 2006 World Cup, which was hosted by Germany. In 1993, Russia started the tradition of issuing currency with themes based on major international sporting events. This has resulted in dozens of commemorative coins, as well as banknotes being issued by the Russian Central Bank over the last 25 years.

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Russia has a long history of issuing coins commemorating sports events

In 2013, the World Summer Universiade was hosted

by Russia in Kazan, in the Tatarstan region of the country. To commemorate the event, Russia minted two different types of 10 rouble coins, as well as gold and silver coins with a mintage of up to 7,500 in number. As the Russian Federation was created only in 1991, earlier issues of sports-related coinage is attributed to the erstwhile Soviet Union. In fact, the Soviet Union also had a long tradition of minting commemorative coinage in order to mark major international sports events. Coins were issued to celebrate the Moscow Olympics in 1980. Copper and nickel one rouble coins were issued with mintage quantities of up to 9 million from 1977 to 1979. These coins featured images of famous Russian landmarks like the Mir space station and the Kremlin. Many coins were also minted by Russia for the Sochi games, including the country’s first ever 100 rouble banknote. Interestingly, days before the break-up of the Soviet Union, coins were minted to commemorate the Barcelona Olympic Games with a mintage volume of 250,000. However, these coins were never formally issued.

2014 World Cup coins

During the last World Cup in 2014, FIFA had launched a massive programme to officially issue coins and medals. The programme enjoyed participation from most football playing nations across the world. All of these countries minted commemorative coins, which were despatched to collectors in its official packaging. This featured a white case that had the embossed World Cup logo on the lid. The coins were packed in protective capsules to prevent damage.

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