Each design will now be put to a vote in the country, due to be launched later this year.

The trio of potential mascots were designed by three Russian students attending art universities across the country.

They attended an award ceremony in Moscow to celebrate their efforts reaching the final stage of selection.

Ekaterina Bocharova was the designer of the wolf, Valeria Taburenko chose to depict a tiger and Sofia Podlesnykh created the cat.

The three shortlisted designs were chosen by a select panel, which included Russia 2018 ambassador and national team goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, actor Viktoriya Tolstoganova and television presenter Oxana Federova.

“It's a great pleasure to see these young and happy faces,” Russia 2018 director general Alexei Sorokin said.

“When we thought up this competition, we were confident that a positive young audience would rise to the challenge.

“You've created some fascinating designs, one of which will become one of the main brand assets of the tournament and a hero for millions of World Cup supporters.”

Before the award ceremony was held, each of the three students took part in a special seminar on designing the mascot.

Experts from world football’s governing body and from Russia 2018 were also present as they were tasked with ensuring all three designs adhered to all requirements.

"I didn't have to think twice about whether to work on this project," Podlesnykh said.

"When designing my cat, I was guided by the World Cup's signature style and the general official style of the tournament.”

The mascot for the last edition of the World Cup, held in Brazil in 2014, was an armadillo called Fuleco.