FIFA president Gianni Infantino says that football has an "energetic and positive impact" in Russia and that the World Cup made everyone fall in love with the country.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin handed over the mantle of World Cup host to the emir of Qatar, whose country will stage the 2022 edition of the tournament.
At a Kremlin ceremony, Putin handed an official World Cup ball to Infantino who then handed it on the to Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
"Today I am a happy man... As far as I am concerned, we all fell in love with Russia. And I am sure in four years we will fall in love with Qatar," Infantino said at the ceremony.
"It is football. It is passion. It is emotions. It is love. It is family. It is unity. These sentiments that we have felt here in Russia we [now] transfer to Qatar. And I am sure that this incredibly energetic and positive impact that football had in Russia, it will have in Qatar in four years."
Putin said Russia was proud of its achievements in hosting the World Cup, and would share its experience with Qatar.
"The World Cup in Russia is coming to end," he said. "Russia is handing over the relay baton for hosting the FIFA World Cup to Qatar.
"We are proud of what we did for fans of this wonderful sport. We ourselves, the whole country, got an enormous amount of pleasure from interacting with soccer, with the world of soccer, with the fans who came here from all over the globe.
"I'm sure that our friends from Qatar will be able to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup on the same high level. We are, of course, ready to share the experience we acquired in holding the World Cup this year, along with our friends.
The Qatari emir said his country would apply all its efforts to making a success of the 2022 World Cup.
"We hope to overcome all the difficulties," he said, adding that his country would also try to outdo the success on the pitch of the Russian team, who surpassed expectations by reaching the quarterfinals.
"Although it will be hard to repeat that success as we're a small country, but we are very keen on sport."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.