Moscow: Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a Croatian soccer shirt with the name "Putin" printed on the back on Sunday.
Croatia has been caught up in football fever after the Balkan nation of 4.2 million people swept aside more fancied opponents to reach its first ever World Cup final, which Russia is hosting this year.
Grabar-Kitarovic has, herself, entered into the spirit of the occasion, travelling to Russia to watch matches and dressing in the colours of the national flag. Croatia knocked Russia's team out of the competition in the quarter-finals.
At a Kremlin meeting, Putin congratulated the Croatian president on the Croatian team's performance.
Grabar-Kitarovic thanked Putin for what she said was the successful organisation of the competition.
Putin presented her with a bouquet of flowers, while she gave the Russian leader the Croatian national shirt.
Earlier, Putin handed over the mantle of World Cup host to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, whose country will stage the 2022 edition of the tournament.
The ceremony marked a handover from the world's largest country by landmass to one of the smallest. Qatar has a population of 2.3 million people and an area slightly smaller than the US state of Connecticut.
Qatar's size, as well as its broiling temperatures and its lack of ready stadium infra-structure, have prompted some to question the decision by Fifa, soccer's world governing body, to make it host. Qatar's rulers say they will rise to the challenge.
"Russia is handing over the relay baton for hosting the FIFA World Cup to Qatar," Putin said.
"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 football, with the world of football, 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," Putin said.
At the climax of the ceremony, Putin handed an official World Cup ball to Fifa chief Gianni Infantino, who then handed it on to the emir.
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.
He said his country would also try to outdo the success on the pitch of the Russian team, who surpassed expectations by reaching the quarter finals.
"Although it will be hard to repeat that success as we're a small country, but we are very keen on sport," he said.
In the build-up to this year's World Cup, some Western politicians called for a boycott over Russia's annexation of Crimea and over allegations, denied by Moscow, that the Kremlin assassinates its opponents overseas.
