FIFA World Cup 2018 Match Schedule | Timetable & Important Information
FIFA World Cup 2018 Match Schedule | Timetable and Important Information to Note.
FIFA World Cup 2018… FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association match schedule for 2018/2019 U-20 Russia competition.
FIFA World Cup 2018 Match Schedule
The 2018 FIFA World Cup scheduled to take place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018 will be the 21st FIFA World Cup. On the eve of the Preliminary Draw in St. Petersburg, the Organizing Committee for the FIFA World Cup unveiled the match schedules for the FIFA Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
This will be the first World Cup held in Europe since 2006 and has been named as the A1 seeds for both competitions. Kick-off times will be confirmed at a later stage.
About the Tournament
The final tournament will involve 32 national teams, which include 31 teams determined through qualifying competitions and the automatically qualified host team. A total of 64 matches will be played in 12 venues located in 11 cities. The final will take place on 15 July in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium
Countries that has qualified for 2018 U-20 FIFA world cup
The final round of World Cup qualifying is still taking place, and 22 countries are already assured of their places alongside hosts Russia at next summer’s 32-team tournament.
Five-time winners Brazil are there, as are defending champions Germany, plus Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, Egypt, France, Iceland, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, South Korea, Spain and Uruguay.
Proposal for expansion
In October 2013, UEFA President Michel Platini proposed that the World Cup finals should be expanded from 32 to 40 teams starting from 2018. The format would have been the same, but in groups of five instead of four. This was in response to FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s comments that Africa and Asia deserved more spots in the World Cup finals at the expense of European and South American teams.
However, FIFA general secretary Jérôme Valcke said that expansion in 2018 would be “unlikely”, while Russian sports minister Vitaly Mutko said that the country was “preparing on the basis that 32 teams will be taking part.” Expansion was ultimately delayed until 10 January 2017, when the FIFA Council voted unanimously to expand to 48 teams starting in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Venues
Russia proposed the following host cities: Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnodar, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Saint Petersburg, Samara, Saransk, Sochi, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, and Yekaterinburg.
All the cities are in or just outside European Russia to reduce travel time for the teams in the huge country. The bid evaluation report stated: “The Russian bid proposes 13 host cities and 16 stadiums, thus exceeding FIFA’s minimum requirement. Three of the 16 stadiums would be renovated, and 13 would be newly constructed.”
In October 2011, Russia decreased the number of stadiums from 16 to 14. Construction of the proposed Podolsk stadium in the Moscow region was cancelled by the regional government, and also in the capital, Otkrytiye Arena was competing with Dynamo Stadium over which would be constructed first.
The final choice of host cities was announced on 29 September 2012. The number of cities was further reduced to 11 and number of stadiums to 12 as Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the final list.
Match Schedule
A ceremony in Moscow launching the countdown from 1000 days until the 2018 FIFA Football World Cup begins in Russia.
The full schedule was announced by FIFA on 24 July 2015 (without kick-off times, which were confirmed later). Russia will be placed in position A1 in the group stage and play in the opening match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 14 June, which will also host the second semi-final on 11 July and the final on 15 July. The Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg will host the first semi-final on 10 July and the third place match on 14 July.
TIMETABLE
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
Schedule
GROUP STAGE Date Match Venue Kick-off Thursday June 14 Russia v Saudi Arabia (A) Moscow (Luzhniki) 4pm GMT Friday June 15 Egypt v Uruguay (A) Ekaterinburg 1pm Friday June 15 Morocco v Iran (B) St Petersburg 4pm Friday June 15 Portugal v Spain (B) Sochi 7pm Saturday June 16 France v Australia (C) Kazan 11am Saturday June 16 Argentina v Iceland (D) Moscow (Spartak) 2pm Saturday June 16 Peru v Denmark (C) Saransk 5pm Saturday June 16 Croatia v Nigeria (D) Kaliningrad 8pm Sunday June 17 Costa Rica v Serbia (E) Samara 1pm Sunday June 17 Germany v Mexico (F) Moscow (Luzhniki) 4pm Sunday June 17 Brazil v Switzerland (E) Rostov-on-Don 7pm Monday June 18 Sweden v South Korea (F) Nizhny Novgorod 1pm Monday June 18 Belgium v Panama (G) Sochi 4pm Monday June 18 Tunisia v England (G) Volgograd 7pm Tuesday June 19 Poland v Senegal (H) Moscow (Spartak) 1pm Tuesday June 19 Colombia v Japan (H) Saransk 4pm Tuesday June 19 Russia v Egypt (A) St Petersburg 7pm Wednesday June 20 Portugal v Morocco (B) Moscow (Luzhniki) 1pm Wednesday June 20 Uruguay v Saudi Arabia (A) Rostov-on-Don 4pm Wednesday June 20 Iran v Spain (B) Kazan 7pm Thursday June 21 France v Peru (C) Ekaterinburg 1pm Thursday June 21 Denmark v Australia (C) Samara 4pm Thursday June 21 Argentina v Croatia (D) Nizhny Novgorod 7pm Friday June 22 Brazil v Costa Rica (E) St Petersburg 1pm Friday June 22 Nigeria v Iceland (D) Volgograd 4pm Friday June 22 Serbia v Switzerland (E) Kaliningrad 7pm Saturday June 23 Belgium v Tunisia (G) Moscow (Spartak) 1pm Saturday June 23 Germany v Sweden (F) Sochi 4pm Saturday June 23 South Korea v Mexico (F) Rostov-on-Don 7pm Sunday June 24 England v Panama (G) Nizhny Novgorod 1pm Sunday June 24 Japan v Senegal (H) Ekaterinburg 4pm Sunday June 24 Poland v Colombia (H) Kazan 7pm Monday June 25 Uruguay v Russia (A) Samara 3pm Monday June 25 Saudi Arabia v Egypt (A) Volgograd 3pm Monday June 25 Spain v Morocco (B) Kaliningrad 7pm Monday June 25 Iran v Portugal (B) Saransk 7pm Tuesday June 26 Denmark v France (C) Moscow (Luzhniki) 3pm Tuesday June 26 Australia v Peru (C) Sochi 3pm Tuesday June 26 Nigeria v Argentina (D) St Petersburg 7pm Tuesday June 26 Iceland v Croatia (D) Rostov-on-Don 7pm Wednesday June 27 South Korea v Germany (F) Kazan 3pm Wednesday June 27 Mexico v Sweden (F) Ekaterinburg 3pm Wednesday June 27 Serbia v Brazil (E) Moscow (Spartak) 7pm Wednesday June 27 Switzerland v Costa Rica (E) Nizhny Novgorod 7pm Thursday June 28 Japan v Poland (H) Volgograd 3pm Thursday June 28 Senegal v Colombia (H) Samara 3pm Thursday June 28 England v Belgium (G) Kaliningrad 7pm Thursday June 28 Panama v Tunisia (G) Saransk 7pm LAST 16 Saturday June 30 1C v 2D (Match 50) Kazan 3pm Saturday June 30 1A v 2B (Match 49) Sochi 7pm Sunday July 1 1B v 2A (Match 51) Moscow 3pm Sunday July 1 1D v 2C (Match 52) Nizhny Novgorod 7pm Monday July 2 1E v 2F (Match 53) Samara 3pm Monday July 2 1G v 2H (Match 54) Rostov-on-Don 7pm Tuesday July 3 1F v 2E (Match 55) St Petersburg 3pm Tuesday July 3 1H v 2G (Match 56) Moscow (Spartak) 7pm QUARTER-FINALS Friday July 6 Winner 49 v winner 50 (57) Nizhny Novgorod 3pm Friday July 6 Winner 53 v winner 54 (58) Kazan 7pm Saturday July 7 Winner 55 v winner 56 (60) Samara 3pm Saturday July 7 Winner 51 v winner 52 (59) Sochi 7pm SEMI-FINALS Tuesday July 10 Winner 57 v winner 58 St Petersburg 7pm Wednesday July 11 Winner 59 v winner 60 Moscow (Luzhniki) 7pm THIRD-PLACE PLAY-OFF Saturday July 14 Losers of two semi-finals St Petersburg 3pm FINAL Sunday July 15 Winners of two-semi-finals Moscow (Luzhniki)
Draw
The draw will be held on 1 December 2017 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow. The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups of four.
For the draw, the teams will be allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2017. Pot 1 will contain the hosts Russia (which will be automatically assigned to Position A1) and the best seven teams, Pot 2 will contain the next best eight teams, and so on for Pots 3 and 4.
This will be different from previous draws, where only Pot 1 was based on FIFA Rankings while the remaining pots were based on geographical considerations. Same as previous editions, teams from the same confederation will not be drawn against each other for the group stage, except for UEFA where each group can contain up to two teams
Squads
Each team must first name a preliminary squad of 30 players. From the preliminary squad, the team must name a final squad of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers) by the FIFA deadline. Players in the final squad may be replaced due to serious injury up to 24 hours prior to kickoff of the team’s first match, where the replacement players do not need to be in the preliminary squad.
For players named in the 30-player preliminary squad, there is a mandatory rest period between 21 and 27 May 2018, except for those involved in the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final played on 26 May.
Group stage
The top two teams of each group advance to the round of 16. Matches are played on a round-robin basis.
Tiebreakers
The rankings of teams in each group are determined as follows
- points obtained in all group matches;
- goal difference in all group matches;
- 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:
- points obtained in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- goal difference in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- number of goals scored in the group matches between the teams concerned;
- 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;
- Drawing of lots by the FIFA Organizing Committee.
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CSN Team