Germany to set up World Cup headquarters near Moscow

The German football association (DFB) announced in a statement released on Friday that head coach Joachim Löw's men would make their home-away-from-home in Vatutinki, a town located southwest of Moscow, in the summer of 2018.

"This time, the decision wasn't an easy one, because we had a very good time in Sochi during the Confed Cup," Löw (pictured above) said. "In Moscow we can work under the best training conditions and in a quiet area, we will have the best conditions for rest and recovery."

National team manager Oliver Bierhoff said that although Germany would be  thinking from game to game, the decision stay in the Moscow region was made with a  view to the entire tournament.

"The housing near Moscow guarantees that we will have short distances to travel on our daily drives to training, to the airport and to the Luzhnicki Stadium, where we all hope we will play three times."

Bierhoff was referring to the fact that Germany open the tournament in Luzhnicki Stadium, which will also host the semifinal  that they would play in, should they get that far, as well as the final. He noted that not having to move between the semifinal and the final was "an important factor" in the decision for Vatutinki, which is located 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Luzhnicki and 25 kilometers from Moscow's international airport. The training facility that Germany intend to use is that of CSKA Moscow and is a five-minute bus ride from their headquarters.

Germany, who are looking to defend the 2014 title that they won in Brazil, are to open their pre-World Cup training camp in the South Tyrol region of northern Italy.