 "An exhaustive guide to FIFA World Cup 2018: Everything you need to know")
32 teams will contest for the World Cup glory in Russia from 14th June. The World Cup will have 64 matches revolving over 32 days. The Final match will be of $66 million. The 21st edition will be played out in 12 stadiums, across 11 cities, in 4 time zones and spread over 1,800 miles (more than the distance between Moscow and London). The tournament is expected to attract one and a half million fans to Russia
One of the biggest advantages of being just 3,096 miles away from Russia is that you won’t be sleep deprived. World Cups, as well as club-level matches of Europe in the past, have posed a big question to the people of this part of the globe: to watch or not to watch? There will be no such dilemma in the Fifa World Cup 2018, which will give a football-crazy Indian fans a chance to catch the action during evening hours. Most of the matches will start at 5.30 in the evening and the last match will be played at 11.30 in the night. Click here to check the full schedule of the tournament. Where can you watch: Everywhere Sony Pictures Networks India will broadcast all the 64 matches live on TV. Click here to know all the channels on which it will be broadcasted. The games will be available in six local languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. Apart from the SonyLiv app and SonyLiv.com, Click here to know how to catch the live action on mobile devices.
The winner will get $38 million and $28 million each. For the Russia event, Fifa will spend 40% more than what it spent in 2014 in Brazil. Fifa will disburse a total sum of $791 million throughout the tournament. Around $400 million will be spent on the participating teams. Click here to see a detailed account of the World Cup balance sheet.
In Russia, there are only five teams with a realistic chance of lifting the trophy. The phoney war is over and most of the big guns are all set to battle it out on the pitch. Here is a detailed report on the how things have shaped for the favourites of the game in past few weeks.
One of the most exciting things about this mega tournament is watching the emergence of a young player or the stamp of validation on a proven quality. We take a look at five attacking players younger than 21 years old who have a genuine chance of joining the ranks of players like Lukas Podolski and Paul Pogba, the other winners of the coveted trophy. Click here to know about the youngsters to watch out for.
Attack wins you matches, defence wins you trophies: With the omission of the team best known for their defence, Italy, out of the contention, it will be up to these 5 world class defenders to keep the adage ringing true for years to come. Yes, the first on our list is controversy’s favourite king: Sergio Ramos. Check out our list of top 5 defenders who will stonewall your favourite strikers.
The world cup will miss the likes of legends Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon but here are some of the top goalkeepers who will guard the goal in Fifa World Cup 2018. We have aggregated a list of the top keepers who will save the night for many teams. Read here...
The cricket crazy nation is finally revealing of its hidden colours. Check out our photo post showing the enthusiasm surrounding the Fifa World Cup 2018 in India. Yes, as might have predicted, a tea seller in Kolkata has painted his whole house with Argentina colours. Click here for some of the most interesting pictures. To cash in on world cup sentiment, restaurants have come up with creative ideas to ensure maximum footfalls. Savour the World Cup 2018 with Ronaldo's quesadilla, Neymar's Chicken and Messi's magic Pizza in various restaurants. Here’s the report We have a new oracle for the World Cup 2018. After Octopus Paul, now Achilles, a deaf cat is predicting the tournament. Achilles the cat, one of the State Hermitage Museum mice hunters, has predicted the result of the opening match of the 2018 Fifa World Cup between Russia and Saudi Arabia in St.Petersburg on Wednesday. Achilles has chosen the host Russia. Here’s the full report