Moscow: In a first for the football World Cup, foreign fans and participants to the next championships in 2018 in Russia will be able to visit the country without visas immediately before and during the competition, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"We passed a federal law establishing a special visa regime for foreigners who help organise the 2018 Championship enabling not only the official participants, such as the athletes, referees, coaches and others, but also the fans to visit Russia without visas right before and during the competition," Putin told media here.