Estonian border guards have thwarted attempts of four foreign nationals, all Nigerians, to get into the country from Russia using their Fan IDs since the Russia-hosted FIFA World Cup kicked off on June 14, the chief of the border and migration control service of the Ida-Viru county, Andreas Kliimant, said at the weekend.

Estonia’s Postimees newspaper quoted him as saying that all four were Nigerian tourists. Three of them tried to get to Estonia by car, and another one – by train. One of the Nigerian tourists asked Estonia for asylum, while the rest were sent back to Russia.

Andreas Kliimant added that all the fans had tried to leave Russia without attending any of the World Cup’s matches.

Russia is holding its first ever edition of the FIFA World Cup, which kicked off in Moscow with a spectacular opening show at the Luzhniki Stadium on June 14. Apart from Moscow, the host cities include St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara

A total of 32 national football teams are participating in the World Cup, held in 11 cities across Russia between June 14 and July 15.