The FIFA World Cup is the biggest event for the most popular sport in the entire world. According to FIFA and Kantar Media, almost half of all people who are alive tuned in at home to watch at least a minute of one match of 2014′ s World Cup in Brazil. Over one billion people watched the final game.
The 2018 World Cup will take place in Russia, and many of the matches will be easy to watch in the United Nation( if you live on the east coast, at least ). Here's our guidebook to catching as many of the beautiful games as possible.
What Is It, Anyway?
The World Cup is a soccer tournament where national squads compete for the world title. Each country that are eligible to participate is organized into different groups, which ascend through brackets by winning matches. This starts on June 14 and runs for a few months, with the final on Sunday, July 15. This year, the United State failed to qualify, as did Italy, the Netherlands, and Chile.
But don't worry, there will still be plenty of drama. For example, the tiny nation of Iceland is constructing its World Cup debut–and against none other than the team led by superstar Lionel Messi, playing for his final chance to bring the Copa del Mundo back home to Argentina. Suspense!
When Does the World Cup Start?
The first match is between Russia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday, June 14 and takes place in Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium. Kickoff is at 11 am EST ( 8 am PST ).
Russia is an enormous country, and matches will take place in far-flung stadia in Sochi, St. Petersburg, and Ekaterinburg , among others. If you want to watch a particular team, “ve been looking for” their group schedule. Find the match schedule, which channels are streaming which match, and input calendar reminders here, or find scores on FIFA's website.
During the group stage, matches will be taking place between 6 am EST( 3 am PST) and 3 pm EST( noon PST ). Some of the early match-ups that you might want to make room for on your schedule include 😛 TAGEND
Iceland's debut against Argentina on Saturday, June 16 at 9 am EST( 6 am EST) Germany, the returning champs, facing off against Mexico on Sunday, June 17 at 11 am EST ( 8 am PST) England's fearless and unbelievably young striker Marcus Rashford in the first game against Tunisia on Monday, June 18 at 2 pm EST( 11 am EST ).
