The tournament's organisational chairman has stepped aside for a period of up to six months to fight a lifetime Olympic ban
World Cup 2018 chief Vitaly Mutko has temporarily stepped aside as president of the Russian Football Union (RFS) to contest a lifetime ban from involvement in future Olympic Games over allegations of organising a doping conspiracy.
RFS director general Alexander Alayev has been named acting president of the governing body after the decision was announced following a session of its Executive Board on Monday.
Mutko, who is Russia's deputy prime minister, was banned by the IOC this month after the release of the Schmid Report, commissioned by the IOC, confirmed allegations of widespread manipulation of anti-doping procedures during his tenure as Russian sports minister, chiefly at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.