FIFA World Cup Russia - What Lies Ahead!

The long wait of 4 years for the greatest sporting event in the world is over, the FIFA World Cup Soccer 2018 is just days away. It is the largest televised event across the world and it brings about a change in the daily activities of people, where the professional responsibilities take a back seat. This year, the event will be hosted by Russia and 32 nations will be participating after coming through some rigorous qualifying process.

The 21^st World Cup will kick off on 14^th June and will continue till 15^th July, when we will see the curtains come down with the final being played at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. There will be a total of 64 matches to be held across 12 venues in 11 cities. While 20 nations from 2014 event will be making a re-appearance, Iceland and Panama will both be having their maiden crack at the cup.

The draw for the event was held on 1^st December 2017 at State Kremlin Palace in Moscow, where the 32 teams were placed in 8 groups. The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the knock-out stages and will bid to overcome their opponents to lift the cup on the Final day. This year will also mark the introduction of VAR (Video Assistance Referees) for the first time in order to minimize the human error factor and ensure fair results.

Like each time, the favorites will be the likes of Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Spain and France, who will be eager to meet the expectations of their countries. Some of the other countries like Belgium, Nigeria, Poland, Colombia, Mexico , Portugal and England will put up strong fight and have outside chance of upsetting the predictions. However, it should be kept in mind that till now, only teams from Europe and South America have lifted the cup and a winner from any other continent will be a welcome change, the world will be bracing for.

Looking at the individual players, it must be said that the focus will be on the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and Iniesta, all of whom in all probability will be playing in their last World Cup and will be eager to take their countries to the pinnacle. Neymar of Brazil, coming back from a long injury layoff will also be hungry for the cup, that has eluded the nation for 16 years now. In addition, some of the lesser known players like Kevin de Bryun, Mohammed Salah, James Rodriguez, Harry Kane , Levandoski,Asencio will try and outshine the stars to bring glory to their nation by making their presence felt. Whoever wins at last, will be considered as the Superstar and the event will also decide the fortune of many of the players in their quest to land a big club career.

The hosts Russia have taken up the challenge to gift the best Cup ever to the world and they have kept no stones unturned to ensure a successful completion. Special measures have been taken to overcome any threats from the separatists group and intelligence agencies are working round the clock to ensure safety of the players and the millions of supporters, who will be travelling to support their nations.

Most Watched Event of the World

Do you that 50% of the population of the world, watch World Cup? As per FIFA, this is the “the world’s most widely viewed sporting event.” The best part is that 46% of the world unites to watch this single event. Research reveals that more than 29% people of the world watch FIFA at least 30 minutes.

3 Million Beer Consumed

It is known that at least 750,000 liters of beer is actually sold near the stadium during the World Cup Matches. The best part is that so much beer is actually consumed with a lot of hot dogs, so people actually do not get the hangover. Isn’t that quite interesting?

Stadiums Are Located Far Away

Unlike other global events like Olympics, the World Cup stadiums are quite a distance away. For instance, the 12 stadiums where the World Cup was played, were spread at least 1,997 miles away from each other. This means it will be at least 2,000 miles journey.

Two Teams Won Nearly 50% of Tournaments

Italy and Brazil have won 9 World Cup titles. One of such teams has actually won 47% of the tournaments which were held. Brazil has won the title 5 times. Italy has won 4 titles.

Teams which won the maximum number of titles at a glance:

Men's: Brazil has won five times - 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002

Women's: USA has won three times - 1991, 1999 and 2015

The Golden Boot award is won by the Top goal scorer in the World Cup finals:

Men's 2014 Winner: James Rodriguez (Colombia)

Women's 2015 Winner: Célia Šašić (Germany)

Men's 2014 Winner: Lionel Messi (Argentina)

Women's 2015 Winner: Carli Lloyd (USA)

So let us also gear up and brace ourselves to once more be witness to the best moments in the most widely followed sporting event of the world.