Alrosa Is Selling Diamonds to Mark the World Cup

Moscow--Are you a big soccer or, excuse us, football fan who also likes diamonds?

Then Russian diamond mining company Alrosa has the perfect item for you.

The Russian diamond miner announced Friday that it is selling a collection of 32 round diamonds—one for each team that made the international tournament—that are 0.3-carats each but D to F color and VVS2 to IF clarity. The stones were mined in Russia and cut by Diamonds Alrosa, a subdivision of the mining company and the same division that cut the Dynasty collection released last year.

Although Alrosa does not normally sell directly to the public, it is making these 32 diamonds, each of which represents a specific nation, available to soccer fans worldwide at DiamondsofRussia.ru. And, for those fanatics, Alrosa is offering the opportunity to personalize their stone with an engraving associated with the World Cup.

The company also will be issuing specially designed official certificates with each diamond.

The collection of 32 World Cup stones are Gemological Institute of America-graded and priced between $999 and $1,289. (There is only one diamond priced at $1,289 and it’s for Belgium; an Alrosa spokesperson said the diamonds for each country were chosen randomly, so as to not show favor to any one country.)

Alrosa is the largest diamond producer in the world in volume terms and second to De Beers in value terms.

The company has had its name and logo displayed on the digital advertising boards at the various stadiums used throughout the tournament, alongside advertisers like Coca-Cola, Visa, Budweiser and Gazprom, the Russian natural gas company.

Pavel Vinikhin, director of Diamonds Alrosa, said because Russia produces one-third of all rough diamonds in the world and polished diamonds are another symbol of the country, “We decided to provide the fans with the opportunity to take a tiny piece of Russia with them or to mark national teams and symbolic victories important for them not only with football anthems, but also with a unique diamond that will remain with them forever. The collection of stones has been selected so that it is affordable for a wide range of fans.”

The next stage of the World Cup, the knockout round of 16, begins Saturday. The World Cup final is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. EST on July 15.