Tiger, wolf, cat vie to be 2018 FIFA World Cup mascot

MOscow:A tiger, a wolf and a cat -- who will be the mascot for the 2018 football World Cup? The Russian sports ministry has unveiled the short list.

An all-Russia vote to select the mascot between the tiger, the wolf and the cat will be launched this fall, reports Tass.

"We are happy that so many people took part (in the mascot contest)," Alexei Sorokin, the director general of 2018 Local Organising Committee (LOC), said on Thursday.

The ministry has awarded three Russian students who designed the potential mascots.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 in 11 Russian cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Sochi, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd and Saransk.