Moscow, Sep 6 (IANS): Over 100,000 people have submitted personal applications to serve as volunteers at the 2018 football World Cup, to be hosted by 11 Russian cities, a senior official in charge of the competition has announced.

Alexei Sorokin, Director General of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Russia-2018, announced on his Twitter account that Monday "marked the 100,000th volunteer application", reports Tass.

"Thank you everyone, wishing to stage the world's best ever championship," Sorokin said.

The 2018 World Cup and the 2017 Confederations Cup Volunteer Recruitment campaign was launched at a solemn ceremony in Moscow on June 1 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Last October, the Russian Sports Ministry certified 15 higher education establishments in 11 cities across Russia, officially authorising them to recruit and prepare volunteers for the Confederations Cup and the World Cup, which are the two major football events to be hosted by Russia in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

A total of 5,000 volunteers will be selected to serve at the 2017 Confederations Cup, while 15,000 volunteers are planned to be recruited for the 2018 World Cup.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.