Siberia to host Cyber Football World Cup in 2018 - for robots

The project comes from the TUSUR, the Tomsk University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics, regarded as one of the leaders in its field in the world. 

Deputy rector Alexander Uvarov, in charge of innovations, said: 'Russia hosts the regular FIFA World Cup in 2018. Sadly we can't be a part of it, being in Siberia.

'But we love football! We can't live without football. We want to have our own championship. So we got together and came up with an idea of hosting the world cyber football championship.'

It will involve 1.5 high metre robots playing football on the grass, under FIFA patronage, he explained.

Uvarov is keen to hear from robot designers the world over who want to participate. Tomsk specialists are already underway developing robotic players for the tournament. 

It is initially unclear if the Tomsk project will be linked to RoboCup, an international robotics competition founded in 1997. 

The aim by the mid-21st century is to create  a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players able to beat the winners of the most recent World Cup.