体坛英语新闻：No repeat of firecracker incident in 2018 World Cup: FIFA

MOSCOW, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The firecracker incident which hurt a Russian goalkeeper would not be repeated during the 2018 World Cup, an official of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) said Tuesday.

FIFA hoped the 2018 soccer games could take place in "a wonderful atmosphere and safe environment," FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke told local media.

A Saturday game between Moscow Dinamo and St. Petersburg Zenit in the Khimki Arena near Moscow was halted in the 37th minute after a fire bomb thrown from Zenit fans' sector hit the goalkeeper Anton Shunin. The player was hospitalized with face burns. Police detained 92 fans immediately after the incident.

Commenting on the latest incident, Valcke said such hooliganism "didn't correspond to what we are fighting against," R-Sport quoted him as saying.

Valcke also assured nothing like this would take place during the World Cup.

A criminal case has been opened follow the incident. Zenit club could be fined if investigators confirm the bomb was thrown by its fans as suspected.

Russia Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Monday vowed to punish football fans who jeopardize players' health and other fans' safety.

"Such misbehavior should not be taken easily. For such things one should be jailed," Medvedev told his deputies during a meeting.

Currently, Russian law envisages up to seven years of imprisonment for hooliganism in public.

Eleven Russian cities would host the 2018 game which include Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Sochi.

Russia pledged to hold "a high quality championships" with full-scale preparation works, sports officials said.