The start of the 2018 World Cup is just eight months away, and after the latest round of qualifiers, the line-up for the tournament is almost complete.
England will be in Russia and could be joined by Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland if they make it through the play-offs.
But what are the key dates for the World Cup? Where are the venues? When will the matches be played? And who will be watching the tournament from home? Here’s all you need to know…
Who has qualified automatically?
Of the 31 places up for grabs at the World Cup – with Russia qualifying as hosts – 23 have been secured.
Europe’s confirmed representatives so far are England, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, Poland, Serbia, Spain, France and Portugal.
From South America, five-time winners Brazil have qualified along with Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina.
Costa Rica, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Panama have also secured their spots.
There are still places yet to be decided in Africa as the final round of group matches take place in November.
Who could still qualify?
Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland could be in Russia if they make it through the play-offs. There are eight teams in Europe competing for four qualifying places.
New Zealand face Peru in a play-off for a qualification place and there’s also another spot up for grabs between Australia and Honduras.
When are the play-offs and how do they work?
The two-legged ties will be played during the next international break in November, with the first legs between November 9-11 and the second legs between November 12-14.
The eight play-off sides in Europe are Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Switzerland and Sweden.
The format for the draw sees the top four FIFA-ranked sides – Switzerland, Italy, Croatia and Denmark – seeded in one pot and drawn against the remaining four sides.
The first ball drawn will be the home team for the first leg and the draw will be held in Zurich on Tuesday, October 17.
Who has missed out?
There will be some big names not in Russia.
Two-time champions Argentina almost missed out but eventually secured their place with a win over Ecuador, however Chile were eliminated after their final day 3-0 defeat to Brazil.
Panama’s dramatic late winner against Costa Rica meant USA missed out on qualification for the first time since 1986.
Wales and Scotland both held their destiny in their own hands heading into their final qualifying matches, but both failed to get the results they required to advance.
Netherlands missed out on a second successive major tournament after finishing behind France and Sweden and Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Turkey and Norway will also be watching the tournament from home.
Cameroon and Ghana both failed to qualify from Africa along with Riyad Mahrez’s Algeria, who had a dismal qualifying campaign.
China will also not be in Russia, along with Ecuador and Venezuela.
When’s the World Cup draw?
The draw for the group stages will be held on Friday, December 1 in Moscow. It will take place at the State Kremlin Palace inside the Moscow Kremlin and you will be able to follow the draw live on Sky Sports digital platforms.
In a change to previous editions, the 31 qualified teams will be allocated into four pots depending on their FIFA ranking as of October 16, 2017. That means the seven highest-ranked teams in the world will go into Pot 1 along with hosts Russia, with the rest of the teams then allocated pots in descending order of their rankings.
The four pots will be emptied and nations will be drawn into four-team groups from A to H.
When is the World Cup?
Just under 250 days to wait…
The World Cup gets underway on Thursday, June 14, with hosts Russia playing the opening match. The tournament will finish on July 15 at the Luzhniki Stadium, the same venue where it started a month earlier.
Before the final, the round of 16 matches get underway on June 30, with the quarter-finals on July 6 and 7 and the semi-finals on July 10 and 11.
Where will it be played?
Russia is a vast country with 11 time zones, but all the venues for the World Cup are in the west to avoid too many travel issues.
There are 12 venues across 11 cities, with Ekaterinburg the furthest east and Kaliningrad the furthest west.
The stadium in Ekaterinburg – the Ekaterinburg Arena – includes one of the more unique features of all the venues as it has two temporary stands outside the original perimeter to ensure it meets the FIFA-sanctioned minimum of 35,000 spectators.
The biggest stadium will be the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow and the other venues are the Kaliningrad Stadium, Volgograd Stadium, Fisht Stadium, Kazan Arena, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Samara Stadium, Rostov-on-Don Stadium, Spartak Stadium, Saint Petersburg Stadium and Saransk Stadium.
When will matches kick-off?
The opening match of the tournament will be played at 6pm Moscow time (4pm UK time) on Thursday, June 14.
Group stage matches will be played throughout the day, with some starting at 3pm Moscow time (1pm UK time) and others at 6pm and 9pm Moscow time (4pm and 7pm UK time).
The final will again be played at 6pm Moscow time.
Who are the favourites?
It’s a close-run thing for favouritism with Sky Bet between defending champions Germany (11/2), France (11/2) and Brazil (13/2).
Spain are 7/1 while England are rated as 20/1 shots.
Iceland are the smallest-ever nation to reach a World Cup and they can be backed at 200/1 to spring a surprise and win the tournament.
Nigerian chess champion Tunde Onakoya is trying to break the world record for the longest chess marathon! The record he is set to break is 58 hours.
Tunde Onakoya has already been playing in the chess marathon for approximately 44 hours straight. This is at the time of this writing. Starting on April 17th and going until April 19th, the event is happening in the famous Times Square in New York City.
Onakoya’s manager, Taiwo, says the official rules allow for 5-minute breaks every hour. But Onakoya only took a total of 30 minutes of rest after playing 12 people in a row for 15 hours! That’s intense! He said he’s playing two sets of games at the same time, and he can’t lose any of them to win the record.
He wrote,
“The opponent on the first set is Shawn Martinez, a US National Chess Master, and he will play with Tunde throughout the attempt.
“Opponents in the second set are random players. He can’t lose any game on either set.
“Only Tunde’s match against Shawn Martinez is considered valid for the record. He is not competing in his simultaneous play against random opponents in the second set. NYC, come out and play regardless.”
Cesc Fabregas, a retired football star who played mostly in the Premier League, wants to be the head coach of a top team there. Even though he has experience coaching Arsenal’s youth teams and Como’s U19 team, he doesn’t want to be an assistant coach.
Fabregas only coached Como’s U19 team for a month because he didn’t have the right licence. He’s been working on getting that licence and doing sports analysis while he waits.
Now 36 years old, Fabregas is taking a course to get his UEFA Pro licence to allow him to coach in the best European leagues, and his dream is to lead a Premier League powerhouse.
“You never know how the future will go, but I want to be a main coach. I am doing my own way at the moment.
“100 per cent my ambition one day is to coach a top club in the Premier League, the Champions League.
“But you need to respect the right steps. I feel I am ready to be a first-team coach already so I don’t want to go into these types of little coaching on the side or being an assistant. I have very clear things in my mind that I just want to be a main coach, a first-team coach, and that’s why I will do my own way until I am ready to jump onto a big train”, he said.
Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji is back on social media and using his platform to connect with his Nigerian roots. The Nigerian-Swiss player recently spoke about his passion for helping Nigerian children.
Akanji had a stellar season with Manchester City last year, helping them achieve a historic treble: the Premier League trophy for the third year in a row, the FA Cup, and most importantly, their first-ever Champions League win.
Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, valued Akanji’s skills as a central defender who can also play the ball well. Akanji wasn’t afraid to take risks by pushing forward and joining the midfield when needed.
Manuel Akanji wants to help Nigerian kids
Akanji’s off-field style is as progressive as his approach to the game, as evidenced by his recent collaboration with Hypebeast, a fashion trendsetter.
Since joining Manchester City, he’s been a rock star on the pitch, consistently delivering top performances.
Hypebeast recently interviewed Akanji at Manchester City’s training ground, where they discussed his life in Manchester, the influence of manager Pep Guardiola on the team’s fashion sense (they’re apparently known for being very stylish), the new Netflix documentary, “Together: Treble Winners,” and more.
One topic particularly close to Akanji’s heart is his Nigerian heritage. He spoke about his desire to help underprivileged children in Nigeria who weren’t as fortunate as him growing up in Switzerland.
He said,
“In Nigeria, I like to help kids who didn’t have the same luck that I had with growing up in Switzerland.”
Manuel Akanji on Burna Boy and Afrobeats
The conversation also touched on music. When asked about Afrobeats, Akanji said…
“My favourite artist is Burna Boy.
I spoke with him after the Champions League final. I love listening to Afrobeats.”
While Manuel Akanji has a strong connection to his Nigerian heritage, as evidenced by his desire to help children there, he ultimately chose to represent Switzerland on the international football stage.
This is likely due to growing up in Switzerland and potentially coming up through their youth development system.