"Yesterday, 315 Croats arrived in the city, two more buses [with tourists] arrived today. Nigerians have bought 2,500 tickets to the game. All the tickets to the match between England and Belgium were sold long ago. Two thirds of all the tickets to the four World Cup matches to take place in Kaliningrad have been bought by foreigners," Alikhanov told journalists.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicked off on Thursday and will continue until July 15, across 11 Russian cities, including Kaliningrad, which will host four group stage matches.