FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia: Unique Facts About WC-2018

Its 16 Days for FIFA World Cup 2018, starting from 14th June 2018, Thursday at 8:30 pm IST.  

 

 

The 21st FIFA World Cup for Men will start on 14th June in Russia as the hosts take on Saudi Arabia in the opening encounter. This is the first World Cup to be held in Eastern Europe. 32 teams have qualified for this tournament, including the 20 teams which participated in the 2014th edition. 

32 teams come from 5 Associations, from UEFA 14 teams, from AFC, CAF and CONMEBOL 5 teams each and 3 teams from CONCACAF. The Notable Absentees are 4-time champions Italy, and three-time runners-up the Netherlands, African Champions Cameroon, 2017 Confederations Cup runner-up Chile, 2016 OFC Nations Cup winner New Zealand, and 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup champion United States. 

 

 

This time there is no notable Group of Death, unlike the last few editions. 

 

Some Unique Facts: 

 

1) If a match goes into extra time, each team will be allowed to make a fourth substitution, the first time this has been allowed in a FIFA World Cup tournament.

 

2) The FIFA Council approved the use of video assistant referees (VAR) for the first time in a FIFA World Cup tournament.

 

3) The official match ball of the 2018 World Cup is called "Telstar 18" and is based on the name and design of the first Adidas World Cup ball from 1970.

 

4) The official FIFA World Cup mascot for the 2018 tournament, a wolf named Zabivaka ("the one who scores" in Russian). 

 

5) Russian Government has spent $10 billion on World Cup.

 

6) For the logo, a new typeface font was designed and developed by Portuguese design agency Brandia Central in 2014.

 

7) The final will take place on 15 July at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

 

8) The official song of the tournament is "Live It Up" with vocals from Will Smith, Nicky Jam and Era Istrefi.

 

9) The ticket design contains security features such as a barcode, a hologram next to the stadium sector map, and the name of the ticketholder.

 

10) Iceland and Panama qualified for the first time, with the former becoming the smallest country in terms of population to reach the World Cup.