Hundreds of visiting supporters have been queuing up to visit Josef Stalin's bunker - chambers dug out underneath the southwestern city to protect the Soviet leader from a Nazi German assault that never came.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'Without Cristiano, it would be impossible. But with him nothing is impossible'
Argentina's Lionel Messi continued his World Cup dual with Neymar by scoring twice in a 3-2 win over Nigeria while Switzerland's Xherdan Shaqiri got in on the act with a magnificent hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Honduras on Wednesday.
The 2026 soccer World Cup could be split between up to four countries, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday, announcing the organisation would encourage applications to co-host the tournament.
There's no escaping the long hours of football on television. Beyond the action in Brazil there's a little more on offer for all the non-football fans. Rediff.com brings you the 10 hottest football stars of the World Cup.
The Indian marksman paid the price for a poor score in the fifth and last detail, in the Shotgun event.
Tunisia will start third-choice goalkeeper Aymen Mathlouthi and have striker Fakhreddine Ben Youssef act as his back-up in their final World Cup game against Panama on Thursday after FIFA rejected their request to add a replacement keeper to the squad.
France captain Amandine Henry came to the rescue as the hosts scraped into the women's World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 win against Brazil after extra time.
The coaches of bitter Balkan rivals Serbia and Croatia were confident their teams would reach the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil after they were drawn together in a tough European qualifying Group A.
Lionel Messi scored two wonder goals as European champions Barcelona thrashed Brazil's Santos 4-0 to win their second Club World Cup in two years on Sunday.
Under attack over their proposed government-funded trip to Brazil to watch the football World Cup, six Goa legislators on Friday decided to pick up the tab for the visit themselves although opposition the Congress said it would only believe them if an official notification confirmed their decision.
Hosts Brazil suffered a huge blow when they lost leading forward Neymar for the rest of the World Cup through injury on Friday as they set up an epic-looking semi-final against Europe's biggest remaining team Germany.
Clubbed in a veritable group of death for next year's World Cup, Australia believe they can spring a surprise while fellow Asian qualifiers Japan, South Korea and Iran were more cautious with their optimism despite being dealt kinder draws.
He was hospitalized last week to re-evaluate his treatment and is also being treated for a respiratory infection, according to medical reports.
When Brazil kicked off their World Cup campaign against Turkey on June 3, few people would have put money on them getting to the final and even fewer would have backed Ronaldo to finish the tournament.
European champions Inter Milan comfortably booked their place in the Club World Cup final with a 3-0 win over Seongnam of South Korea on Wednesday. Inter will meet surprise packages TP Mazembe of DR Congo on Saturday after the African champions upset Internacional of Brazil 2-0 to become the first team from outside Europe or South America to reach the final.
"To say I'll be happy for Argentina (if they win), that will not be true, it would be a lie, I will not be a hypocrite," Ronaldo said in an interview with the Spanish daily Marca.
Saudi Arabia took third place in Group C and will feature in a fourth phase of qualifiers in October alongside Indonesia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Oman.
Japan survived early pressure from Zico's Iraq to beat them 1-0 at home on Tuesday, taking a significant step towards qualifying for the 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil.
Neymar's two-goal performance against Cameroon on Monday made it hard to believe that barely one year ago there were serious doubts as to whether he was mature enough to lead Brazil's challenge for a sixth World Cup.
Friday's World Cup draw set the stage for several spicy duels between players at the same European clubs.
France is slowly but gaining momentum when it mattered most.
It is hard to image Germany coach Joachim Loew making any changes to the team that demolished hosts Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup semi-final for Sunday's final against Argentina after spending much of the tournament tinkering to find the right mix.
Even US President Barack Obama could not escape the World Cup fever. Strong performances by the US team in Brazil ignited passions in a country not known for its love of soccer, and free viewing parties were held from coast to coast while fans crammed into sports bars and restaurants.
Perhaps a delay in writing this has tempered down the incredulousness with which I lived the experiences that I am about to narrate. But the possible advantage is that I can do so now with a rational mind; sometimes too much emotion while writing isn't a good thing.
A select 12 matches will also be broadcast in Malayalam via Asianet Plus.
An extra-time goal from Roberto Firmino gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Brazil's Flamengo to win the Club World Cup at the Khalifa International stadium on Saturday. It is the first time Liverpool have won the competition, which features each continent's champions, and they became only the second English team to lift the trophy after Manchester United in 2008.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger dissuaded Jack Wilshere from rushing his comeback from injury to ensure he would be fit and ready for the World Cup campaign, the England midfielder has said.
Brazilian forward Neymar is faced with not just a bitter few days of what might have been, but a coming season of what to do now.
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella is to step down after Sunday's World Cup final against Germany regardless of the result, his agent told Argentine radio on Friday.
Brazil's World Cup winning players from 1958, 1962 and 1970 have been awarded a bonus and a pension from the government in a controversial move that has split public opinion.
Serbia goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic denied Brazil's potent strike force on several occasions in a goalless first half of their World Cup Group G match on Thursday.
Midfielder Luka Modric and available-again striker Mario Mandzukic will spearhead Croatia's effort to keep alive their hopes of reaching the World Cup last 16 when they face Cameroon on Wednesday, coach Niko Kovac said.
Brazil is probably the only major soccer-playing country where reporters can join in goal celebrations and interview players as they fight on the pitch.
The predictions by the world's biggest wealth manager were based on a statistical model using the results from the previous five tournaments and controlling for factors such as team strength and success in the qualification phase.
'Everyone now has the technology and the information to prepare games down to detail. Many years ago you used to go to a World Cup and it was a surprise on the day and talent and decisions on the pitch made a bigger difference'
The Russian Football Union (RFU) said on Tuesday it had ended its contract with national team coach Fabio Capello, three years before the country hosts the 2018 World Cup finals.
Cameroon are to investigate claims that seven of their players were involved in match-fixing at the World Cup, the country's football federation FECAFOOT said on Monday.
