32 teams, initially divided into eight groups of four, will take part between 14 June and 15 July next summer. Russia have automatically qualified by virtue of being hosts, with the Golden Eagles set to be joined by 4.5 sides from Asia, 5 from Africa, 3.5 from North America, Central America and the Caribbean, 4.5 from South America, 0.5 from Oceania and 13 from Europe. The .5 slots refer to intercontinental play-offs: one team from South America will face the highest-placed Oceania qualifiers, while an Asia outfit will go head-to-head with a nation from the North America, Central America and Caribbean region. The draw for the group stage will be held at the State Kremlin Palace in December 2017, by which time the identity of the 31 qualifiers will be known.
There will be 11 host cities in Russia - Moscow, St Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Rostov, Sochi, Saransk – with 12 stadiums set to stage matches. The opening game will be played at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium, which can hold 81,000 people, with the final scheduled to take place at the same venue. The sheer size of Russia means there will be a variety of different kick-off times, the earliest being 12:00 CET and the latest 21:00 CET.
There may be around 17 months to go before the tournament gets under way at the time of writing, but it is still possible to identify several frontrunners in the race to win the World Cup in Russia. Germany triumphed in Brazil in 2014, beating the hosts 7-1 in a memorable semi-final and then defeating Argentina 1-0 in the final, and will be hoping to retain the Jules Rimet trophy in 2018.
Brazil themselves are showing major signs of improvement under new manager Tite and will be contenders, while Argentina possess some star-studded attacking players who will make an impact as long as the Albiceleste do not fall short in South America’s marathon qualification campaign. Elsewhere, Spain, Italy and France will all have ambitions of going all the way, while the likes of Uruguay, Chile, Belgium England, Portugal and the Netherlands cannot be ruled out. The winner of the World Cup will also take part in the Confederations Cup in 2021.
It was announced late last year that the 2026 version of the competition will feature 48 teams, while the 2022 tournament will be held in November and December due to the summer heat of host nation Qatar. In many ways, then, 2018 will be the final edition of the World Cup as we have come to know it: 32 teams contesting 64 matches in June and July. That, along with the multitude of usual reasons, means this competition will be well worth watching next year.
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