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Fifa picks Lineker to host World Cup draw

Zurich - Russia hosts the 32-team World Cup from June 14-July 15

Fifa says former England forward Gary Lineker and Russian sports journalist Maria Komandnaya will present the World Cup draw in Moscow on Dec. 1.
Lineker, a respected broadcaster for British networks, has been chosen for the State Kremlin Palace event despite often criticising Fifa to his 6.7 million followers on Twitter.
Fifa deputy secretary general Zvonimir Boban says Lineker's "honest and open views together with his in-depth knowledge of the game greatly enrich the world of football journalism."
Lineker won the Golden Boot as top scorer at the 1986 World Cup, and helped England reach the semifinals in 1990.
Fifa says Komandnaya has worked for Fox Sports for more than a decade as one of Russia's best known sports journalists.
Russia hosts the 32-team World Cup from June 14-July 15.
Meanwhile, a loophole that allows national teams to boost their seedings for the World Cup by avoiding friendly matches is likely to disappear after next year's finals in Russia, with changes due to the international calendar and a Fifa review of their rankings system.
Currently seedings are based on the Fifa world rankings, using a points system which calculates average points for each game and is weighted against friendly matches.
The result has been that some teams, such as Poland and Switzerland, who have played only a small amount of friendlies, have gained an advantage over teams who have played regular friendly games.