2018 FIFA World Cup

2018 FIFA World Cup
Чемпионат мира по футболу FIFA 2018; Chempionat mira po futbolu FIFA 2018
	France with the World Cup trophy.
Tournament details
Host country	Russia
Dates	14 June – 15 July
Teams	32 (from 5 confederations)
Venue(s)	12 (in 11 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	France (2nd title)
Runner-up	Croatia
Third place	Belgium
Fourth place	England
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	169 (2.64 per match)
Attendance	3,031,768 (47,371 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Harry Kane (6 goals)
Best player	Santhosh Modric
	← 2014 2022 →

The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, which is a men's football tournament that takes place every four years and is organized by FIFA. The tournament took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018,^[3] after the country was awarded the hosting rights on 2 December 2010. This was the first World Cup taking place in Eastern Europe.

The defending champions were Germany. France won the tournament after defeating Croatia 4–2.^[4] This was France's second World Cup title.

Qualified teams

Teams qualified for World Cup Teams did not qualify for World Cup Teams removed from the tournament by FIFA before playing a match Countries were not FIFA members

Russia is the host country, so the Russian team automatically qualified.

Team	Qualified as	Date of qualification
Argentina	CONMEBOL qualification 3rd place	10 October 2017
Australia	CONCACAF v AFC play-off winners	15 November 2017
Belgium	UEFA Group H winners	3 September 2017
Brazil	CONMEBOL qualification winner	28 March 2017
Colombia	CONMEBOL qualification 4th place	10 October 2017
Costa Rica	CONCACAF Fifth Round runners-up	7 October 2017
Croatia	UEFA Second Round winners	12 November 2017
Denmark	UEFA Second Round winners	14 November 2017
Egypt	CAF Third Round Group E winners	8 October 2017
England	UEFA Group F winners	5 October 2017
France	UEFA Group A winners	10 October 2017
Germany	UEFA Group C winners	5 October 2017
Iceland	UEFA Group I winners	9 October 2017
Iran	AFC Third Round Group A winners	12 June 2017
Japan	AFC Third Round Group B winners	31 August 2017
Mexico	CONCACAF Fifth Round top 3	1 September 2017
Morocco	CAF Third Round Group C winners	11 November 2017
Nigeria	CAF Third Round Group B winners	7 October 2017
Panama	CONCACAF Fifth Round 3rd place	10 October 2017
Peru	OFC v CONMEBOL play-off winners	15 November 2017
Poland	UEFA Group E winners	8 October 2017
Portugal	UEFA Group B winners	10 October 2017
Russia	Host	2 December 2010
Saudi Arabia	AFC Third Round Group B runners-up	5 September 2017
Senegal	CAF Third Round Group D winners	10 November 2017
Serbia	UEFA Group D winners	9 October 2017
South Korea	AFC Third Round Group A runners-up	5 September 2017
Spain	UEFA Group G winners	6 October 2017
Sweden	UEFA Second Round winners	13 November 2017
Switzerland	UEFA Second Round winners	12 November 2017
Tunisia	CAF Third Round Group A winners	11 November 2017
Uruguay	CONMEBOL qualification runners-up	10 October 2017

Draw

The draw was held in Moscow at 18:00 MSK, on Friday 1 December 2017^[5]^[6] The teams were divided into 4 pots, 8 teams each. The number in parenthesis show positions in the FIFA World Rankings prior to the tournament.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Russia (65) (hosts) Germany (1) Brazil (2) Portugal (3) Argentina (4) Belgium (5) Poland (6) France (7)	Spain (8) Peru (10) Switzerland (11) England (12) Colombia (13) Mexico (16) Uruguay (17) Croatia (18)	Denmark (19) Iceland (21) Costa Rica (22) Sweden (25) Tunisia (28) Egypt (30) Senegal (32) Iran (34)	Serbia (38) Nigeria (41) Australia (43) Japan (44) Morocco (48) Panama (49) Korea Republic (62) Saudi Arabia (63)

Stadiums

Luzhniki Stadium hosted the final on 15 July.

Moscow:

Saint Petersburg:

Krestovsky Stadium

Kaliningrad:

Kaliningrad Stadium

Nizhny Novgorod:

Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

Volgograd:

Volgograd Arena

Yekaterinburg:

Central Stadium

Sochi:

Fisht Olympic Stadium

Rostov-on-Don:

Rostov Arena

Saransk:

Mordovia Arena

Samara:

Cosmos Arena

Kazan

Kazan Arena

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 (regulations Article 32.5):

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 Organising Committee.