Pandas show off their soccer skills at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on June 10 ahead of the FIFA World Cup. (Photo/Courtesy of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda)
Southwest China's Sichuan Province will host the "Panda World Cup 2018" from June 14 to July 15 to celebrate the FIFA World Cup that opened in Russia on Thursday.
Organized by the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) and iPanda.com, the Panda World Cup would include panda soccer games, sumptuous meals for pandas, a panda quiz and three featured activities relevant to the FIFA World Cup, according to a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
Eight pandas born in 2017 would star in the activities, whose information is on a special page at iPanda.com.
Panda soccer games and other activities will be broadcast live on iPanda.com, an online live streaming website of pandas. The website is featuring short videos and photo stories to introduce the "players."
According to the statement, the activities was launched to help pandas living in the mountains and "pandamen," the panda breeders, to enjoy the FIFA World Cup 2018, to promote ties between pandas and people around the world, and to reinforce panda-related international cultural interactions.
The FIFA World Cup 2018 opened on Thursday in Sochi, Russia. One billion Chinese people will reportedly watch the games, according to guancha.com.
Some 100,000 Chinese soccer fans plan to visit Russia for the 2018 World Cup, Ctrip, China's leading online travel agency told the Global Times previously.
