And the football world is now looking ahead to the World Cup. The event in Russia will crown a champion, but for athletes like Alexei Nemov, they believe the tournament can change the image of the country. The nation still dealing with a ban from the Olympics, due to materminding an alleged doping ring. And their legacy, was tarnished again, as two of its athletes were found to have been doping at the just concluded Winter Games in Pyeongchan. But the former Olympic gymnastics champion hopes that the football showpiece can change people's minds.

ALEXEI NEMOV 12-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST "I think this is a common problem, a problem for all world sports. I think this is a political problem, mostly, and we need to unite our efforts to solve this problem collectively, for sport to be as clean as possible – this is the most important thing at the moment. I believe this can be solved."

In Pyeongchang, the nation was competing as the Olympic Athletes from Russia, because of their ban, and saw a curler and a bobsledder fail drug tests. It's been alleged the Russian federation masterminded a massive doping ring at the 2014 Sochi Games, and thus that is why they are not allowed to compete at the Olympics. Because of their punishment, Russia recorded their lowest ever gold-medal tally at a Winter Olympics after winning just two.