What You Need to Know about Football World Cup 2018 Before It Starts
Football World Cup 2018 will be the 21st World Cup, held by FIFA. It will take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July. 32 national teams will compete for the right to become world champions. The preparation for this event started long ago and now, all the world waits for the matches start, thinking what team they will supoort and buying football posters.
So, let’s have a closer look at the upcoming Football World Cup and find out who are the participants and when the matches will take place.
Contents
Mascot
Zabivaka - official mascot of 2018 World Cup
The official mascot for Football World Cup 2018 is a wolf, called Zabivaka (which means the one who scores in Russian). The mascot was presented on 21 October 2016, after being chosen by Internet voting.
The wolf features brown and white wool and wears a blue and white T-shirt and red shorts as well as orange sport glasses. The colors of his clothing, which are white, red and blue, are the colors of the Russian national flag.
Participants
Germany National Football Team
As we have already told, 32 teams will compete in Russia, which are the Russian national team and the teams, which turned out to be the best in 2018 Football World Cup Qualifiers. Among them are defending champions Germany, which won the title in 2014, and 2016 European Champions Portugal. The national teams of Iceland and Panama will be debutants of the FIFA World Cup.
Here is the full list of competitors, divided by groups:
Group A: Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Uruguay
Group B: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran
Group C: France, Australia, Peru, Denmark
Group D: Argentina, Iceland, Croatia, Nigeria
Group E: Brazil, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Serbia
Group F: Germany, Mexico, Sweden, South Korea
Group G: Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England
Group H: Poland, Senegal, Colombia, Japan
Football World Cup 2018 Stadiums
World Cup 2018
The national football teams will compete at 12 stadiums. They are Luzhniki Stadium (Moscow), Otkritie (Spartak) Stadium (Moscow), Krestovsky Stadium (Saint Petersburg), Kaliningrad Stadium (Kaliningrad), Kazan Arena (Kazan), Nizhny Novgorod Stadium (Nizhny Novgorod), Cosmos Arena (Samara), Volgograd Arena (Volgograd), Mordovia Arena (Saransk), Rostov Arena (Rostov-on-Don), Fisht Olympic Stadium (Sochi) and Central Stadium (Yekaterinburg).
Prize Money
2018 FIFA World Cup
All the participant teams of World Cup 2018 will get the money prizes. The winners will earn $38 million, runners-up - $28 million, the third place - $24 million and the fourth place - $22 million. The teams, which will get to the round of 16 will gain $16 million each and the rest of the teams will earn $8 million each.
Schedule
Football World Cup 2018
Group Stage
After all the group matches are over, 16 teams, 2 of each group, will continue the competitions. The team’s success depends on the points, goal difference and number of goals, scored in all group matches.
The group stage will take place from June 14 to June 28. And here is the schedule of the matches:
14 June:
Group A: Russia – Saudi Arabia (Luzhniki Stadium)
15 June:
Group A: Egypt – Uruguay (Ekaterinburg Arena)
Group B: Morocco – Iran (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
Group B: Portugal – Spain (Fisht Stadium)
16 June:
Group C: France – Australia (Kazan Arena)
Group D: Argentina – Iceland (Spartak Stadium)
Group C: Peru – Denmark (Mordovia Arena)
Group D: Croatia – Nigeria (Kaliningrad Stadium)
17 June:
Group E: Costa Rica – Serbia (Samara Arena)
Group F: Germany – Mexico (Luzhniki Stadium)
Group E: Brazil – Switzerland (Rostov Arena)
18 June:
Group F: Sweden – South Korea (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
Group G: Belgium – Panama (Fisht Stadium)
Group G: Tunisia – England (Volgograd Arena)
19 June:
Group H: Colombia – Japan (Mordovia Arena)
Group H: Poland – Senegal (Startak Stadium)
Group A: Russia – Egypt (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
20 June:
Group B: Portugal – Morocco (Luzhniki Stadium)
Group A: Uruguay – Saudi Arabia (Rostov Arena)
Group B: Iran – Spain (Kazan Arena)
21 June:
Group C: Denmark – Australia (Samara Arena)
Group C: France – Peru (Ekaterinburg Arena)
Group D: Argentina – Croatia (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
22 June:
Group E: Brazil – Costa Rica (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
Group D: Nigeria – Iceland (Volgograd Arena)
Group E: Serbia – Switzerland (Kaliningrad Arena)
23 June:
Group G: Belgium – Tunisia (Spartak Stadium)
Group F: South Korea – Mexico (Rostov Arena)
Group F: Germany – Sweden (Fisht Stadium)
24 June:
Group G: England – Panama (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
Group H: Japan – Senegal (Ekaterinburg Arena)
Group H: Poland – Colombia (Kazan Arena)
25 June:
Group A: Uruguay – Russia (Samara Arena)
Group A: Saudi Arabia – Egypt (Volgograd Arena)
Group B: Iran – Portugal (Mordovia Arena)
Group B: Spain – Morocco (Kaliningrad Stadium)
26 June:
Group C: Denmark – France (Luzhniki Stadium)
Group C: Australia – Peru (Fisht Stadium)
Group D: Nigeria – Argentina (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
Group D: Iceland – Croatia (Rostov Arena)
27 June:
Group F: Mexico – Sweden (Ekaterinburg Arena)
Group F: South Korea – Germany (Kazan Arena)
Group E: Serbia – Brazil (Spartak Stadium)
Group E: Switzerland – Costa Rica (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
28 June:
Group H: Japan – Poland (Volgograd Arena)
Group H: Senegal – Colombia (Samara Arena)
Group G: Panama – Tunisia (Mordovia Arena)
Group G: England – Belgium (Kaliningrad Stadium)
Round of 16
Starting from this stage, all the games are of knockout kind. If the match ends with a level score, extra time is played. If the winner remains unclear, everything is decided by a penalty shoot-out series.
Round of 16 will last from June 30 to July 3. The matches will be held between:
30 June:
Match 49: Group A Winners – Group B Runners-up (Fisht Stadium)
Match 50: Group C Winners – Group D Runners-up (Kazan Arena)
1 July:
Match 51: Group B Winners – Group A Runners-up (Luzhniki Stadium)
Match 52: Group D Winners – Group C Runners-up (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
2 July:
Match 53: Group E Winners – Group F Runners-up (Samara Arena)
Match 54: Group G Winners – Group H Runners-up (Rostov Arena)
3 July:
Match 55: Group F Winners – Group E Runners-up (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
Match 56: Group H Winners – Group G Runners-up (Spartak Stadium)
Quarter Finals
8 teams will get to the quarter finals and will have their games on July 6 and 7.
6 July:
Match 57: Winners Match 49 – Winners Match 50 (Nizhny Novgorod Stadium)
Match 58: Winners Match 53 – Winners Match 54 (Kazan Arena)
7 July:
Match 59: Winners Match 51 – Winners Match 52 (Fisht Stadium)
Match 60: Winners Match 55 – Winners Match 56 (Samara Arena)
Semi Finals
The semi-final games will be held at July 10 and 11.
10 July:
Match 61: Winners Match 57 – Winners Match 58 (Saint Petersburg Stadium)
11 July:
Match 62: Winners Match 59 – Winners Match 60 (Luzhniki Stadium)
Final
The final will be held at July 15 at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The winners of matches 61 and 62 will meet in the game for the FIFA World Cup 2018. The battle for the third place between losers of matches 61 and 62 will take place on July 14 at Saint Petersburg Stadium.
All in all, the Football World Cup 2018 is a great event, which has already attracted the attention of the entire world. We are looking forward for the start of the competitions and believe that the strongest ones will win.
