Scores & Results for World Cup 2018 Russia

La festa del calcio che succede solo ogni quattro anni è impostato per dare il via.

That's right — the 2018 FIFA World Cup, a tournament that brings together the finest footballers on the planet, is nearly upon us.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup will be the 21st FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It is scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010.

This will be the first World Cup held in Europe since the 2006 tournament in Germany, the first ever to be held in Eastern Europe and the eleventh time that it has been held in Europe. All of the stadium venues are in European Russia to keep travel time manageable.

The final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. Of the 32 teams, 20 will be making back-to-back appearances following the last tournament in 2014, including defending champions Germany, while Iceland and Panama will both be making their first appearances at a FIFA World Cup. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities. The final will take place on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

The winners of the World Cup will qualify for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.

The official song of the tournament is "Live It Up", with vocals from Will Smith, Nicky Jam and Era Istrefi, released on 25 May. The FIFA World Cup Official Music Video was released on 8 June.

The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows (regulations Article 32.5):

1. points obtained in all group matches;

2. goal difference in all group matches;

3. number of goals scored in all group matches;

If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria, their rankings are determined as follows:

4. points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;

5. goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;

6. number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;

7. fair play points

- first yellow card: minus 1 point;

- indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points;

- direct red card: minus 4 points;

- yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points;

8. drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.

DRAW: The draw was held on 1 December 2017 at 18:00 MSK at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The 32 teams were drawn into 8 groups of 4.

For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2017. Pot 1 contained the hosts Russia (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and the best seven teams, pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, and so on for pots 3 and 4. This was different from previous draws, when only pot 1 was based on FIFA rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. However, teams from the same confederation still were not drawn against each other for the group stage, except that two UEFA teams could be in each group.

2018 FIFA World Cup 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

The 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament brings together 32 competing nations, including some of the greatest players in the world, and produces many intriguing storylines. Enjoy!