To FIFA-land and the new head of the organization was in Russia, the host of the 2018 World Cup. This is Gianni Infantino's first trip to the country since he was elected President in February.

The Swiss and a few delegates checking out how preparations are progressing for the showpiece.

Infantino was joined by Russia's mayor Sergei Sobyanin during the inspection tour of Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium -- as it undergoes a major rebuild to be able to fit 81,000 spectators for games in two years time.

Construction projects seem to be progressing, and there there is talk that the Russia World Cup could be the first, where referees would have the use of video replay.

Now, all that is positive, but there are negatives surrounding the event -- as a human rights report issued by FIFA raised concerns about Russia's law prohibiting gay "propaganda" and the treatment of migrant workers.

The FIFA president and Russia's sports minister had interesting comments regarding that report.

"FIFA is not the world welfare agency but we have to be responsible about these things, we have to be responsible about the position we take about human rights. We have to take advantage of our competitions being held all over the world," said Infantino.

"There are no human rights violations of citizens in the Russian Federation, there have been none and will never be. All the human rights will be guaranteed. Welcome to Russia, it's an open and democratic country, we guarantee safety of our guests. No one is persecuted here based on their religious or other views," said Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister.