Russia - 100 Rubles FIFA Football World Cup Final 2018 Commemorative Polymer

Росси́йская Федерaция

(Russian Federation)

 

Центральный банк Российской Федерации

(Central Bank of the Russian Federation)

Currency - Ruble (RUB)

This polymer note was released on 22.05.2018 to celebrate the 2018 FIFA Football World Cup Final held in Russia between 14.06.2018 to 15.07.2018. Whilst many postage stamps and commemorative coins have been issued in the past to commemorate the FIFA football finals, this is the first time that a banknote has been issued to celebrate this world cup game. This is also the first polymer note issued by Russia.

The design on the front features the late famous Russian goalkeeper Lev Ivanovich Yashin (1929-1990) stopping a goal been scored during the 1966 England World Cup final. That game was played between Russia and Italy during a Group 4 round robin match on 16.07.1966 in Sunderland with Russia beating Italy with a score of 1-0. The shot that saved by Lev Yashin came from Italy's midfielder Sandro Mazzola. The goal for Russia was scored by Igor Leonidovich Chislenko. Italy also lost their game to North Korea by 1-0. Russian together with North Korea advanced into the next round while Italy and Chile went home early. Lev Yashim's nicknamed Black Spider or Black Panther, played 326 games for his club, Dynamo Moscow between 1950 and 1970, and 74 games for Russia National team. The note also features a young boy wearing a jersey with #1 on his back and holding a football in his right arm. The main features on the back include a football with the Russian map and the names of the venues for the all FIFA games. Images of fans celebration the games final are also included in the designs.

Prefixes AA and AB sighted.

One Hundred Rubles

Dated 2018

Reverse

AA Prefix

AB Prefix

 

The World Cup final qualification process involved 210 teams around the world with 872 matches played from 12.03.2015 to 15.11.2017. Only 31 teams plus the host Russia qualified for the final. A total goal of 2,454 (2.81 per match) were scored during the qualification process.

The 32 teams, including the host, Russian participating in this tournament were:-

AFC - Australia, Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia & South Korea;

CAF - Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal & Tunisia;

CONCACAF - Costa Rica, Mexico & Panama;

CONMEBOL - Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru & Uruguay;

OFC - None qualified

UEFA - Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden & Switzerland.

In all, 64 matches were played in this final at 12 venues located in 11 cities mainly in the central and western Russia. Not a single game was played in the eastern Russia. The first stage of the final involved round robin games with 32 teams divided into 8 groups of 4 teams each. After this stage, it then went into a knock out stage with the final played on 15.07.2018. The host Russia played the first game against Saudi Arabia and the final game was played at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Two well-known teams, Holland and Italy failed to qualify for the final, whilst Iceland and Panama made their first appearances.

Round Robin standing: -

Group A - Uruguay (9); Russia (6); Saudi Arabia (3) & Egypt (0)

Group B - Spain (5); Portugal (5); Iran (4) & Morocco (1)

Group C - France (7); Denmark (5); Peru (3) & Australia (1)

Group D - Croatia (9); Argentina (4); Nigeria (3) & Iceland (1)

Group E - Brazil (7); Switzerland (5); Serbia (3) & Costa Rica (1)
Group F - Sweden (6); Mexico (6), South Korea (3) & Germany (3)

Group G - Belgium (9); England (6); Tunisia (3) & Panama (0)

Group H - Colombia (6); Japan (4); Senegal (4) & Poland (3)

First knock out stage: -
Uruguay beat Portugal 2-1
France beat Argentina 4-3
Brazil beat Mexico 2-0
Belgium beat Japan 3-2
Russia beat Spain 1.4-1.3 (on penalties)
Croatia beat Denmark 1.3-1.2 (on penalties)
Sweden beat Switzerland 1-0
England beat Colombia 1.4-1.3 (on penalties)

Quarter-finals: -
France beat Uruguay 2-0
Belgium beat Brazil 2-1
England beat Sweden 2-0
Croatia beat Russia 2.4-2.3 (on penalties)

Semi-finals: -
France beat Belgium 1-0
Croatia beat England 2-1 (extra time)

Final: -
Champion = France (4)
Runner-up = Croatia (2)
Third = Belgium (2)
Fourth = England (0)

Highlights:
*The VAR system made this tournament much more interesting, with more goals scored;
*Only one game ended in 0-0 during the round robin stages;
*Australia, Costa Rico, Iceland and Morocco all failed to win a game while Egypt and Panama failed to get a point;
*For the first time since 1938 Germany failed to make it to the knock out stage after got beaten by South Korea 2-0;
*Japan qualified for the knock out stage due to receiving less yellow cards than Senegal and then lost it to Belgium despite leading 2-0 up for 51 minutes in the first knock out stage;
*No team from the Africa continent made it to the knock out stage;
*No team from South America made it to the semi-finals;

The next FIFA World Cup final will be played in Qatar in 2022.

Russia - 100 Ruble 2015 Annexation of Crimea Commemorative

One Hundred Rubles

CK Prefix, ND2015, Obverse/Reverse

 One Hundred Rubles

KC Prefix, ND2015, Obverse/Reverse

ND2015, Small kc Replacement Prefix

Reverse

Release date: 23.12.2015
Quantity; 20.0 Million pieces
Prefixes: CK, KC and kc (Replacement Prefix)
Theme: Annexation of Crimea from Ukraine

This 100 Ruble note was issued on 23.12.2015 celebration Russia annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The operation to seize Crimea began on 27.02.2014 when unidentified armed force captured several government buildings including the parliament in the city of Simferopol. On 18.03.2014, the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin signed a treaty with Crimea officially annexing this part of the region into the Russian Federation. Crimea was once part of the Russian empire since 1783 but in 1954, it was then transferred by the Russian Central Government to Ukraine control. At the time of the transfer, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union empire (USSR). It was reported that a total of 20 million pieces have been issued with prefixes of "CK" and "KC". The main features on the front of the note depict the Swallow's Nest castle and on the back, scuttled ships at Sevastopol Bay. Crimea has a population of approx. 2.0m people.

Russian - 100 Rubles 2013 Sochi 2014 XXl Winter Olympics "AA", "Aa" & "aa"

One Hundred Rubles

Dated 2014 (2013), PNL

All three prefixes

Russian 100 Rubles 2013 Hybrid Commemorative note issued to celebrate the 2014 XXl Winter Olympic games to be held in Sochi Russia. This is the first commemorative note ever issued by Russia. This note was released on 30.10.2013, exactly one hundred days before the opening ceremony of the Winter games (7-23 February 2014). A total of 20 million pieces were issued with letter prefixes of "AA", "Aa" and "aa", sighted so far. This is also a hybrid note printed by the Russian printer Goznak with similar technology like those developed by De La Rue and G&D. The note is printed in vertical format with the polymer strip located horizontally at the lower end of the note. With twenty million pieces printed each with 7-digits prefix, you work it out as to why 3 prefixes have been used. Not many legal tender banknotes commemorating the Olympic games (both Winter and Summer) have been issued in the past. This is the first for the Winter games and the forth for all Olympics games. The others are:  China RMB10, Hong Kong HKD20 and Macau MOP20, all celebrating the 2008 Beijing Summer games.

Reverse

Footnote:
I can't confirm this but I have been told that this is how the prefixes of these notes were printed. With 7 digits serial number, each prefix can print up to 10 million pieces before discounting any errors:-
1. "AA" and "aa" = 18.0 million pieces (presumably 9 million pieces each); and
2. "Aa" = 2.0 million pieces.
Is this means that "Aa" is the last prefix (just to top up the 20 millions mark) or the replacement prefix for errors? My guess would be the first option unless a specific prefix is used for replacement note! Please feel free to disagree with me.