"Football fans will learn the first forecast of the electronic oracle two hours before the start of the match between the Russian and the Saudi Arabian national teams," a message published on the official website of the mayor's office read.

The robot, which has built-in video cameras, will predict the winners of all the 48 World Cup matches by selecting a cube that contains a piece of paper with one of the participating nations on it.

Baxter, who also predicted the match winners during the 2017 Confederations Cup, with 80 percent of forecasts proved true, is considered to be the first robot oracle that predicts the football matches winners in the world.

"Baxter underwent a special intellectual training ahead of the 2018 World Cup. The robot watched football matches on TV, listened to interviews with football players and kept track of the forecasts made by sports analysts," the mayor's office added.

The World Cup gets underway on Thursday with hosts Russia playing Saudi Arabia in the opening match. The tournament will come to an end on July 15, with the final being played in Moscow.